‘Hollowed’ be thy name on Good Friday
JONTY’S JOTTINGS
Good Friday by Brendan Rhodes
WHEN Rye flew out of the blocks to kick the first two goals of the Appleford-Luck Cup derby before Rosebud had even touched the ball at Olympic Oval, it looked like the big Good Friday crowd would be in for an open, free-flowing treat to start the Nepean League season.
But apart from little glimpses of class from both teams, that was about as good as it got.
Highly skilled it may not have been, but it was a pressure-packed, entertaining and thrilling contest, and at the end of the game, there was no separating the arch-rivals as the match finished in a thrilling draw.
Both teams would feel like it was two points that got away.
The Demons led from Nathan Henley’s opening minute set-shot bomb from 50m until Ryan Spooner gave the Buds the lead at the 10-minute mark of the final quarter, and needed a spectacular mark and goal from new full forward Michael Greig to rescue them after it looked like the home team was going to run over the top of them.
Rosebud, by contrast, has a history of kicking itself out of games, and by booting a woeful 5.18 (with only three rushed), the Buds would have also walked away thinking they had blown two crucial premiership points, and the chance to regain the Appleford-Luck Cup for the first time since surrendering it to Rye in the corresponding game in 2014.
Rye controlled the first quarter with the breeze, kicking four goals to one to take an advantage it would hold for most of the day, with Steven Daniher in brilliant touch along with Henley and Adrian Gileno, while Josh Nisbet controlled the ruck and gave his team first use of the ball.
Taking their turn with the breeze in the second quarter, Rosebud completely dominated the term, but wasted opportunity after opportunity, falling to 1.8 before Keegan Downie took a strong mark and goaled to cut the half-time margin to seven points.
They were repelled by Dean Millhouse and Ryan Taylor, with Millhouse taking plenty of marks to hold back the navy blue wave, while Taylor easily had the better of Rosebud’s coach and gun recruit Michael Kraska, undoing the good work up the field of acting captain Rhys Bancroft, Kurtis Corrin and the run from half back of Nick Boswell.
Rye vice-captain Ryan Mullett, who had an excellent first half, stepped it up a notch in the third term for the Demons, winning countless possessions in the middle of the ground and driving the ball forward, finding plenty of support from Matthew McIndoe, Harrison Devine-Richardson, Joel Wills and Jackson Allen, who showed a clean pair of hands to take several strong marks.
The reigning premiers managed to break even with the Demons in the third term, negating the visitors’ second turn with the strong breeze to hold the margin to seven points at the final change, and it looked like they would have the speed and youthful energy to run over the top of Rye in the final quarter.
A clear highlight was a brilliant run from Boswell, who intercepted the ball inside the defensive 50 and took off through the middle, having four bounces before fumbling, regathering and launching a shot on goal that would have been a goal of the year winner, even on the first day of the season – if Taylor hadn’t leapt up at full stretch to get a fingertip on it as it crossed the line.
Rosebud attacked the goals in waves in the final term, but were again wasteful, with four consecutive behinds cutting the margin to three points before Ryan Spooner finally got out the back of the pack, receiving a handball from Kraska at the 10-minute mark to put his team in front for the first time.
Rye looked cooked and it was hard to see where it was going to find the goal it needed to regain the lead, especially after two more behinds stretched the lead to three points.
But someone forgot to tell Millhouse, who cleared from defence to Daniher on the wing, and he drove the ball long to the forward 50, where Greig set himself, then found a stepladder to take a screamer in the cricket nets pocket.
With the wind blowing straight into his face, Greig launched a brilliant kick from 50 to split the middle and regain the lead for the Demons in what would be their only score of the term.
Rosebud resumed attacking, but the desperate defence from Rye kept them out, and one last effort from Matthew Dunn tapped the ball through for a rushed behind in the goalsquare a split second before Kraska could get his foot to it.
That levelled the scores, and the siren sounded less than 30 seconds later to split the points and leave both teams hollow.
Mullett was awarded the Mornington Peninsula Brewery Player of the Day for a brilliant middle two quarters on a day where nobody put a full game together, while Rye’s consolation was retaining the Appleford-Luck Cup for the fourth consecutive match.
The Luke Cain Medal was struck for the first time in honour of the former Rosebud player who broke his neck in a game in 1999.
Cain, now a talented target shooter, has just qualified to compete at his second Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and was on hand to award the medal named after him to Rosebud’s running defender Boswell.
In the other Nepean League game played on Good Friday, the Fevolution Roadshow rolled into Frankston Park as the Bombers thrashed Pearcedale by 66 points in front of 5000-plus people.
Brendan Fevola donned the red and black and booted six goals, while Frankston product Dermott Brereton was the runner as the Bombers piled on seven first-quarter goals before running away with a dominant victory over the Panthers.
Dale Sutton, Jake Foster and Jarryd Amalfi were in dominant form for the Bombers, while ruckman Luke Murray and on-ballers Mitchell Smith and Mitch Williams fought hard for Pearcedale, but the Panthers were never in the contest.
In the Peninsula League, Edithvale-Aspendale got its season off to a successful start with a tight eight-point victory over Bonbeach at Shark Park.
The Eagles got off to a good start to lead by eight at quarter-time before Bonbeach hit back to lead by nine at the main break.
But Edi-Asp regained control with five goals to one in the third quarter and held on in the last to secure the all-important four points.
Elliot Macquire, Zac Muschialli and Chris Wylie led the way for the Eagles, while the Sharks were best served by James Murnane, Jack Williams and Justin Bennett.
NEPEAN FNL SCOREBOARD
]ROSEBUD 1.3 2.8 4.11 5.18 48
RYE 4.2 4.3 6.6 7.6 48
Goals: ROSEBUD: S Downie, K Downie, B Davidge, B Schultz, R Spooner. RYE: M Greig 2, N Henley, S Daniher, A Gileno, D Millhouse, R Mullett.
Best: ROSEBUD: N Boswell, D Stephens, J Jarman, R Spooner, J McRae, M Baker, T Stoffels, S Krumeich. RYE: R Mullett, D Millhouse, R Taylor, S Daniher, M McIndoe, A Kirkwood, H Rice, M Dunn.
Injuries: ROSEBUD: Nil. RYE: H Whitty (concussion)
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 2200 approx at Olympic Oval.
Mornington Peninsula Brewery Player of the Day: 3 R Mullett (Rye), 2 N Boswell (Rosebud), 1 D Millhouse (Rye)
FRANKSTON 7.5 8.6 12.10 16.13 109
PEARCEDALE 1.2 3.5 4.8 5.13 43
Goals: FRANKSTON: B. Fevola 6, Z. Longham 2, J. Kingsbury 2, J. Foster, M. Windsor, A. Fulton, D. Sutton, M. Harris, J. Burr. PEARCEDALE: Z. Campbell 2, M. Williams, M. Smith, T. Jacobson.
Best: FRANKSTON: D. Sutton, J. Foster, J. Amalfi, R. Marks-Logan, Z. Longham, J. Kingsbury. PEARCEDALE: J. White, A. Harnett, L. Matthews, D. Hoare, A. Simmons, J. Irving.
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Frankston 1 1 0 0 109 43 253.49 4
Rosebud 1 0 0 1 48 48 100.00 2
Rye 1 0 0 1 48 48 100.00 2
Pearcedale 1 0 1 0 43 109 39.45 0
RESERVES
Rye 7.6 48 def Rosebud 4.9 33
Frankston 13.9 87 def Pearcedale 10.5 65
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Rye 1 1 0 0 48 33 145.45 4
Frankston 1 1 0 0 87 65 133.85 4
Pearcedale 1 0 1 0 65 87 74.71 0
Rosebud 1 0 1 0 33 48 68.75 0
UNDER-19
Rosebud 28.15 183 def Rye 2.2 14
Frankston 8.13 61 def Pearcedale 1.5 11
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Rosebud 1 1 0 0 183 14 1307.14 4
Frankston 1 1 0 0 61 11 554.55 4
Pearcedale 1 0 1 0 11 61 18.03 0
Rye 1 0 1 0 14 183 7.65 0
A-GRADE
Rosebud 50 def Rye 43
Pearcedale 31 def Frankston 30
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Rosebud 1 1 0 0 50 43 116.28 4
Pearcedale 1 1 0 0 31 30 103.33 4
Frankston 1 0 1 0 30 31 96.77 0
Rye 1 0 1 0 43 50 86.00 0
B-GRADE
Rye 44 def Rosebud 22
Frankston 36 def Pearcedale 27
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Rye 1 1 0 0 44 22 200.00 4
Frankston 1 1 0 0 36 27 133.33 4
Pearcedale 1 0 1 0 27 36 75.00 0
Rosebud 1 0 1 0 22 44 50.00 0
C-GRADE
Rye 30 def Rosebud 15
Frankston 19 drew Pearcedale 19
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Rye 1 1 0 0 30 15 200.00 4
Frankston 1 0 0 1 19 19 100.00 2
Pearcedale 1 0 0 1 19 19 100.00 2
Rosebud 1 0 1 0 15 30 50.00 0
17-AND-UNDER
Rosebud 37 def Rye 23
Pearcedale bye
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Rosebud 1 1 0 0 37 23 160.87 4
Rye 1 0 1 0 23 37 62.16 0
PENINSULA FNL SCOREBOARD
EDI-ASP 3.4 3.6 8.7 10.11 71
BONBEACH 2.2 5.3 6.6 9.8 62
Goals: EDITHVALE-ASPENDALE: T. Mannix 2, M. Meehan 2, C. Wylie 2, J. Heys, M. Mullins, C. Martello, A. Pawel. BONBEACH: S. McDonald 2, J. Bennett 2, J. Murnane, J. Sole, O. Hulett, D. Smith, B. Sykes.
Best: EDITHVALE-ASPENDALE: E. Macquire, Z. Muschialli, C. Wylie, T. Turner, T. Mannix, M. Mullins. BONBEACH: J. Murnane, J. Williams, J. Bennett, N. Alexandrou, S. Rosario, G. Carpenter.
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Edi-Asp 1 1 0 0 71 62 114.52 4
Bonbeach 1 0 1 0 62 71 87.32 0
RESERVES
Bonbeach 8.3 51 def Edithvale-Aspendale 5.3 33.
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Bonbeach 1 1 0 0 51 33 154.55 4
Edi-Asp 1 0 1 0 33 51 64.71 0
UNDER-19
Edithvale-Aspendale 12.10 82 def Bonbeach 5.2 32.
LADDER
Team P W L D For Agnt % Pts
Edi-Asp 1 1 0 0 82 32 256.25 4
Bonbeach 1 0 1 0 32 82 39.02 0
NETBALL TO BE PLAYED ON
SCHEDULED DATE
Photography Rab Siddhi
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