They’re down, but they’re not out.
Myrtleford’s senior football squad was unable to secure a spot in the grand final at the first opportunity, defeated 10.8 (68) to Wangaratta Rovers 11.13 (79) on Saturday at Wangaratta Showgrounds.
With the pressure heaped on them, it took a while for the Saints to settle into the match, with uncharacteristically wayward goalkicking early in the game helping Rovers to stay in the fight.
The Rovers made the most of their Chances, taking a 19-point lead into the main break.
Myrtleford hit back hard in the second half, coming within nine points at three quarter time and pushing right through the final term, but they couldn’t make up the deficit.
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Mitch Tenardi, Simon Curtis, Tom Cappellari and Jaxon East were immense, with all four recording more than 20 touches, while Riley Smith and Toby Cossor dominated in the ruck.
Coach Craig Millar said while the end result was unfortunate, he couldn’t fault his side’s effort, particularly after half-time.
“I thought there were opportunities for us to win the game, but in some critical moments we didn’t make the most of those opportunities, and they were good enough to make the most of theirs,” he said.
“The pressure of the game was quite intense, as you would expect in a qualifying game for the grand final.
“I thought we responded really well in the second half, we won the second half against them, the second time we’ve beaten them in the second half, but unfortunately the damage was done early in the game.
“We kicked 1.4 in the first quarter, and 2.7 in the first half, and of those seven [missing] shots, you would put probably four of those down as goals.
“There’s no doubt the pressure of the game and the magnitude of it was part of the contributing factor, but I thought by and large our ability to move the ball was good.
“There were some really good signs in the data we saw on Sunday, but you can’t give the best team in the competition an out, you need to put scoreboard pressure on them and we just couldn’t do that.”
The loss sees them poised to take on Wangaratta Magpies for the last remaining spot in the grand final.
Despite the Saints tasting victory over the Magpies twice during the regular season, the ‘Pies can never be counted out – their willingness to fight to the last was on full display after their gutsy win after the final siren on the weekend.
“You’re got to put time into all of them, they’re a pretty good outfit and have been for a long time – it’s been a long time since they haven’t played in a preliminary final,” Millar said.
“We’ve just got to continue to play the way we play, we feel like we’re reasonably across how they play – they love contested footy, they’re very good at it, and they’ve obviously got some firepower at both ends of the ground.
“We’ll have to bring the best version of us if we’re going to be any chance of winning and progressing through.”
The Saints take on the Magpies this Sunday, 14 September, at Biralee Park, Wodonga from 2pm.
Earlier, the reserves football side was made to work extra hard for the win, with their match against Albury being forced into overtime.
Scores were identical at the end of the fourth quarter, with both teams sitting on 8.4 (52), but two goals in the additional period saw the Saints triumph 10.6 (66) to 9.5 (59).
“We spoke about this at the start of the year, we were talking about the squad mentality and where we wanted to go and what we wanted to achieve – it was going to take everyone in our squad, not just the first 22, it was going to take every big of 50 players to get you where you want to go,” Millar said.
“Their grit and resolve on the weekend from our guys playing at 12pm was just outstanding.
“They were challenged a number of times and their ability to fight their way back into the contest, despite having a limited bench in the second half, it was just an amazing victory and one that many people will remember.”
The reserves will take on Lavington at 12pm on Sunday at Biralee Park.
On the netball court over the weekend, the junior netballers saluted in style, with the 17 and under squad winning through to the prelim 36-31 over Wangaratta, while the 15 and under side took a narrow 33-32 win over Lavington.
Unfortunately, C grade went down 34-43 to Wangaratta, but are still alive in finals, set to take on Wangaratta Rovers this weekend.
