By David Ball
Yarra Glen senior football started the season with a home game against Belgrave, but played at Yea due to the Yarra Glen clubrooms being under repair following the January flood event.
Belgrave started strongly, winning centre clearances and finding leading forwards.
They had kicked 5 goals before Yarra Glen scored a great goal through Nick McKenzie.
Caleb Surplice was superb in defence and pinch hitting in the ruck, but there were few winners for the River Pigs.
At quarter time Belgrave had amassed 7.4 to Yarra Glen’s 1.0.
Yarra Glen improved in the second quarter, with Harmit Singh setting up a number of forward moves from defence.
A great snap goal from Oscar Grenfell provided a spark for the River Pigs, only to have Belgrave lift again.
They were running in waves and provided their forwards with plenty of opportunities.
Kyle Nunn was proving hard to stop, eventually finishing with 9 goals.
At half time Belgrave had extended their lead, with Yarra Glen trailing 3.1 to 15.6.
The third quarter saw Yarra Glen tighten up in defence and their onballers starting winning more of the ball.
With Belgrave setting up well in defence, many of the Yarra Glen entries were intercepted as Belgrave added 4 goals to Yarra Glen’s 1 for the quarter.
In the last quarter Yarra Glen showed some fight, adding 4 goals to Belgrave’s 6.
With a number of new and younger players it took a bit of time for the team to connect but in the end Belgrave were far too good with final scores Yarra Glen 8.5 to Belgrave 25.12.
Best players: Caleb Surplice, Tom Sullivan, Harmit Singh, Nick McKenzie and Oscar Grenfell.
Goalkickers: Josh Hawkins 2, Nick McKenzie 2, Nate Capuano, Oscar Grenfell, Caleb Surplice, Sam Wood.
The Yarra Glen Reserves had a full squad and hopes were high for a competitive hit out to start the season.
The Belgrave boys started full of energy whilst Yarra Glen were slow to get going.
Ash Bryans worked hard in the middle but each forward entry was quickly rebounded.
In the first quarter Belgrave piled on 7 goals to Yarra Glen’s 2 points. The River Pigs were all working hard but came up against a group that ran hard and shared the ball well.
The second quarter saw a much improved effort, the River Pigs were able to restrict Belgrave to 3 goals and get more of the ball across the ground. In the second half Belgrave added 13 goals while Yarra Glen were unable to add to their score.
While the effort was admirable, Yarra Glen’s skills dropped off as they tired. In the end Yarra Glen were well beaten, final scores Yarra Glen 0.3 to Belgrave 23.19
Best Players: Ash Bryans, Ethan Murdock, Taylor Bryans, Dylan Jarvis, Ryan Strong and William Duff.
For Yarra Glen netball, A Grade’s season got off to an ideal start with the team pulling off an easy victory over Belgrave at Yea.
The girls had easy control over the whole court, they were methodical in their attack, with seasoned campaigner Alana McGurgan controlling the tempo all game.
Meanwhile in defence, returning to netball was Katelyn Vanderkolk who looked like she’d never left; repelling everything the opposition threw at her!
Playing her first game for the club Megan Galletti was fierce in defence, proved by the fact that she spent a fair bit of time flat on the surface of the court rather than on her feet!
An excellent hit out to start the season with a 47-36 win!
B Grade’s fighting effort saw them go down 33-46, a score line that doesn’t really reflect the game.
Kayla Collins played an inspired first half in WA, a new position for her.
The third quarter was where the game slipped away, but the girls responded with determination in the last to not let the game blow out.
Tiah Large was especially impressive with her defensive efforts and control across the court. A valuable game with many positives to take away!
C Grade got off to slow start against Belgrave, but the second QTR saw the girls tighten up in defence creating multiple opportunities for back to back goals, which saw us come back from a 5 goal deficit to be even at half time.
The third saw lots of momentum shifts in a tight and physical contest from both sides, with just one goal separating the two coming into the fourth.
The girls held their composure in an impressive whole team effort to come away with a 4 goal win.
Honourable mentions to Ashley Shanks for her efforts in attack and to Natasha Bennet for her defensive performance in GK.
D Grade started well to be 3 goals up at quarter time, Kim Christian was shooting well to finish off the good work across the court.
As Belgrave lifted in the second quarter the Yarra girls struggled with the extra pressure to be 2 goals down at half time. Closing the gap to 1 goal by three quarter time, good work from Maddie Oultram and Annie Dietrich helped Yarra Glen take control to secure a hard fought 2 goal victory, 20 to 18.
Next week is a bye for Yarra Glen before travelling to Yarra Junction for Round 3 on 27 April.
