Valley’s inter-league treble

By Stephen Walter,
IT WAS inter-league weekend, with 60 of the YVMDFNL’s best athletes heading to St Arnaud to tackle North Central Football League in senior and under-18 football and open netball.
Three outstanding team efforts saw the Yarra Valley win all three WorkSafe Cups at the picturesque but very large Lord Nelson Park in country St Arnaud.
Yarra Valley has now won their past two inter-league matches in both under-18s and seniors and looks likely to be playing Western Border Football League next year.
The senior team had a game on their hands with North Central having most of the first quarter play but wasting it with inaccurate kicking.
At quarter time Yarra Valley just held sway, leading with 19 points to North Central’s 16.
Yarra Valley had a dominant second quarter and went into the main change 21-point leaders. Monbulk’s Luke McCormick was playing great football, amassing possessions and was the catalyst for many of Yarra Valley’s forward drives.
The third quarter saw North Central play strong football and they were able to reduce Yarra Valley’s lead to just 17 points.
It appeared North Central had the momentum to keep going but Yarra Valley stood tall and dominated the last quarter with seven goals. Robbie Allan and Chris Murphy starred up forward.
Best afield and the VCFL medal went to Robbie Allan from Woori Yallock, who played a dominant role both in the back line and up forward.
Chris Hayes (Upwey) was equally dominant with four goals.
Yarra Valley’s other best players included McCormick (Monbulk), Murphy (Mount Evelyn), Liam Barnard (Warburton) and Nick Broomhall (Olinda). Senior coach Mark Sandilands was full of praise for all of his players and was impressed with how the team lifted in the last quarter.
Yarra Valley 18.13 (121) d North Central 11.13 (79).
The under-18 team had a hard-fought victory. Capably led by Warburton’s Alex Calder, Yarra Valley was pushed all the way in a tight and demanding encounter. Going into the last quarter, Yarra Valley held a slender 11-point lead. Part way through, North Central hit the lead and it did look ominous for the Yarra Valley boys who were putting themselves under further pressure with inaccurate kicking.
At one stage it looked like North Central would run away with the game, but a crucial resurgence late in the quarter with two important goals saw Yarra Valley run out seven-point winners.
Michael Gavric from Seville was best on ground with an outstanding four-quarter effort. Gavric was ably supported by Matt Wappett (Warburton), Callum Eade (Olinda), Jake Hinton (Upwey) and Dave Cracknell (Gembrook).
Alex Calder was the only multiple goal kicker with three. Under-18s coach Brett Fisher was impressed with the commitment of the players, especially their last-quarter fight-back after being headed. “North Central had a very impressive under-18 team and we did well to beat them at their home ground,” Fisher said.
Yarra Valley 13.15 (93) d North Central Football League 13.8 (86).