AFL Victoria Community Championships: O&M into top four

OVENS and Murray Football League is closing in on the pinnacle of country football rankings.

OVENS and Murray Football League is closing in on the pinnacle of country football rankings.

O&M is now the second-highest ranked Victorian country football league, thanks in part to its emphatic win against Western Region on Saturday.

Mornington Peninsula Nepean’s loss in the AFL Victoria Community Championships saw it overtaken in the rankings.

It is likely Ovens and Murray will play Geelong next year for the first time in more than a decade.

Win that, and it becomes the top country league and will compete for Victoria’s top ranking out of all community leagues, country and metro, in 2020.

Ovens and Murray legend Jon Henry has overseen the rise of the league over the past three campaigns, first co-coaching with Corowa-Rutherglen equal games record holder Darrell Spencer then with Myrtleford legend Brad Murray this year.

“That’s your overall goal (to get to No. 1), I think that’s everyone’s goal, but we’ve mainly focused on year to year,” Henry said.

“It’s a case of winning every game, and every year it’s a new challenge, a new opponent.”

It has been a long climb for the Ovens and Murray to get to this point.

It had a provisional ranking of fifth out of the country leagues after the 2015 country championships, but was shuffled down the order when the country and metropolitan interleague competitions were combined the following year.

Henry said that low initial ranking “probably didn’t sit too well”, but after three wins against Hampden, Goulburn Valley and now Western Region, Ovens and Murray is back among the top four leagues.

Ovens and Murray set the tone on Saturday, kicking five unanswered goals in the first 12 minutes of the game.

“Our pressure was really good,” Henry said.

“I think we had 10 inside-50 tackles in the first quarter, which was a really high number. And most of the times we scored, it was on the back of a turnover from the opposition.

“The game was a bit different after that, the opposition tried a few different things and slowed the game down a little bit, but early on was when it counted and we were really good.”

Michael Newton and Jydon Neagle kicked eight goals between them on Saturday, with midfielder Harrison Wheeler named best-on-ground.

Top billing among community leagues will remain in Melbourne for at least the next two years as the Eastern league won the title from Geelong’s grasp on Saturday.

Its challenger for the title next year is the Northern Football League.