By David Ball and Anne-Marie Ebbels
Yarra Glen faced a mammoth task in taking on top side Healesville on their home ground.
The game started in light rain with the Bloods handling the ball well despite the conditions.
Their quick handball and run was putting pressure on the River Pig defence and at quarter time Healesville had opened up a 27 point advantage.
As the rain began to get heavier, Healesville continued to move the ball with a handball and kick game, whereas Yarra Glen were rushing their kicks into the awaiting Bloods defensive zone. Healesville added another three goals and extended their lead to 48 points at half time.
With Yarra Glen down to one on the bench at half time and without their main forward Josh Hawkins, things only got worse as water was starting to pool all over the ground.
Despite being severely undermanned, the River Pigs never stopped working hard at the contest and keeping the pressure on their opponents, they limited Healesville to just the five goals in the second half.
Final score was Healesville 12.10 to Yarra Glen’s 0.0.
Best for Yarra Glen: Richard Gurney, Chris Beattie, Tom Sullivan, Sam Wood, Jim Marks and Will Duff.
Best for Healesville: S Watkins, L Daly, A Edwards, J Bates, B Wilsmore and D Plozza.
The Yarra Glen reserves took on top three placed Healesville with a severely depleted team.
The game started in good conditions making it easy for the more skilled Bloods midfielders who gave their forwards great supply.
They jumped out to a 46 point lead at quarter time.
As the rain started in the second quarter the Bloods were finding it harder to convert, kicking 4.9 for the quarter.
Yarra Glen defenders Matt McKenzie and Andrew Cowan worked overtime and helped restrict Healesville to just two goals in the third quarter.
Despite Maf Laloulu and Nathan Battle providing a great contest in the midfield, the floodgates literally opened up in the last as Healesville went on to win 17.25 to 0.0
Best for Yarra Glen: Andrew Cowan, Maf Laloulu, Braedyn Crombie, Nathan Battle and Jason Boyce.
Best for Healesville: K Brown, C Boeder, R Hay, T Tweedie, M Renouf and T Campbell.
In the A grade game, the first quarter was tight with both teams making the most of their opportunities.
Yarra Glen went into the first quarter with a three-goal lead.
The second quarter was much the same with the rain changing the way the game needed to be played as the conditions became slippery.
Yarra glen increased their lead by two goals by half time.
Yarra Glen put in a strong third quarter to increase their lead further to 11 goals at the final change.
Yarra Glen continued to play well in the conditions at ran out winners by 17 goals.
Best for Healesville: M Erickson, J Harris and A Stanley.
For the second week running B Grade played in the worst of the conditions with rain pouring from start to finish and sloshing through the water pooling on the court. In a low scoring first quarter as both teams adjusted to the condition Yarra Glen went into the first break three goals up.
Yarra Glen came out and put in a strong second quarter to go into the half-time break with 15 point and continued to extend their lead at each break to be eventual winners by 36 points.
Best for Healesville: E Duff-Smith, L Rogers and C Wild.
The C grade game had the best of the weather conditions.
Yarra gen dominated the game from start to finish Healesville struggled to generate any scoring opportunities in the first half going into half time 32 goals down.
The second half Healesville managed to put a few more goals on the board, but Yarra Glen were big winners by 55 goals.
Best for Healesville: E Birch C Wild, E Cameron.
Helaseville U18s started the day with the best of the weather conditions, Olinda-Ferny Creek started strongly and were leading by nine points at quarter time.
Healesville hit back in the second quarter keeping Olinda-Ferny Creek scoreless to go into half time 12 points up.
Healesville continued to apply the pressure and increase their lead to 18 points at three-quarter time.
A strong final quarter by Healesville with a big 34 points win.
The Healesville Women took on Pakenham for the third time this season and had yet to get a win against them.
The first quarter was tight with both teams kicking a goal.
Healesville worked hard in the second quarter to score two goals to one to go into the big break with a seven-point lead.
A similar story in the third quarter healesville outscored Pakenham to go into the final break with a 13-point lead.
In a nail-biting final quarter, Pakenham did all the attacking and kept Healesville scoreless with Healesville hanging on by eight points.
This week all Yarra Glen teams travel to Alexandra for Round 16.
This weekend Healesville host their final home game for the season against Seville.
The Healesville women play their final home and away game against Upwey-Tecoma starting at 9am and netball starts from 11.20am.
