It was a little closer than they might’ve liked, but the end result is the same – the Magpies advance in finals.
Needing a victory to keep their flag hopes alive, Wangaratta’s senior footballers survived a late scare in their elimination final against North Albury.
The Magpies led by 46 points at the final change, but the Hoppers surged late in the final term, the scoreboard reading a much closer 14.7 (91) to 10.9 (69).
While Wangaratta held an early nine-point advantage at quarter time, the Magpies would put the foot down through the second, with the black and white booting five majors while keeping the Hoppers goalless to lead by 40 at the half.
The two sides would trade blows through the third, with a torpedo from 50 out on the siren by Max Bihun putting the margin to 46 points by three quarter time.
With their season on the line, North Albury ripped into the last term, booting six unanswered goals to come within 10 points after just over 20 minutes of play.
With their substantial lead evaporating and time running out, it would take a goal from Fraser Ellis to break the run of goals at the other end, while Xavier Laverty secured the win with his fourth major of the game.
Coach Jason Heatley said the late quarter fightback from the Hoppers shouldn’t overshadow the incredible work his players put in all game.
“We always knew they were going to come at some stage – you throw caution to the wind like they did, they were hitting the scoreboard, and we probably could’ve been better in some circumstances, but we did a whole lot right for three quarters and about 10 minutes,” he said.
“I think we were really good around the footy, just giving our forward line plenty of looks.
“When you do that, you’re going to hit the scoreboard more often than not, and we were able to.
“We were able to control part of the game from there, but full credit to them, they’re a good side and they kept on coming.”
Heatley praised his entire squad for sticking to the game plan and executing for the duration of the match.
“There’s lots of good talking points for us,” he said.
“I thought [Michael] Bordignon was okay on [Josh] Murphy, he’s just a good player.
“We expected he would hit the scoreboard, the Gardiner boys had some moments no doubt, but I just want to laud our guys around the footy, [Hunter] Gottschling, [Dan] Sharrock, [Alex] Federico... I thought they were outstanding,
"I thought Waitai Tua and Fraser Ellis in our backline were really solid.”
The Magpies head to the Albury Sports Ground this Sunday, set to take on Lavington.
“We’re just enjoying the ride, we haven’t put any stop marks or any targets on our season all the way along,” Heatley said.
“What we do know is we’ll give a good account of ourselves again next Sunday, I’m absolutely confident about that.”
Wangaratta Rovers enjoyed the week off, their ladder-topping finish to the home and away season gifting them a ticket to the second week of finals.
In other matches from the weekend, the Magpies thirds advanced after a stunning 9.7 (61) to 8.6 (54) win over Lavington, while the Rovers reserves downed Myrtleford by 28 points, 10.8 (68) to 6.4 (40).
Wangaratta’s 17 and under netballers also came out ahead, defeating Lavington 44-41 in their elimination final, while Magpies C grade defeated Rovers 41-34, and the 17 and under Rovers knocked off Myrtleford 53-36.