Riddell District Football Netball League celebrated semi-final action over the weekend. Three teams celebrated entry into Grand Final day at Romsey, while three others closed the curtains on their premiership aspirations for season 2016.
SATURDAY - Rockbank - Second semi-finals
Under 18.5s - Rupertswood v Woodend/Hesket
These two teams battled it out in a rematch of last year's Qualifying and Grand Finals. Rupertswood were victorious on both occasions.
The Sharks missed Jiaya Mitchell due to injury and the Hawks missed Blake Laverie. Both big exclusions in the midfield for their respective teams.
Riley Hemburrow kicked the opening goal of the game in week one of the finals and he repeated the dose in week two for the Sharks, at the six minute mark of the term.
The Sharks hammered through seven goals in 16 minutes to open up a handy 44-point lead at the first break.
The goals flowed in the second term with a further five in 13 minutes to open up a staggering 74-point lead before time-on in the term. Luke Cannon was on fire in the midfield and Jackson Berry dominated in the ruck for the Sharks.
Woodend/Hesket finally kicked its first goal thanks to Brandon Nicholls, 43.5 minutes into the contest.
Hawk Dan Taylor went off the ground on a stretcher in the opening 90 seconds of the third term. Dylan Tunn fired a goal for the Hawks just moments from the restart to narrow the gap to 60-points.
Goals were still achievable for the Hawks, but it was Rupertswood that put the foot down with four quick goals to blow the margin out to 85-points. The highlight was a snap from around the body in the pocket from Jayden Baillie.
Kicking into a stiff breeze, Rupertswood enjoyed 10 scoring shots in the final term to win the game by 105-points. The highlight of the term was ultimately the highlight of the season for any team in the RDFNL.
Billy Cannolo gathered the ball deep in defense, handballed and received the ball back from two team mates while sprinting through the corridor, taking six bounces in total and then slotting the ball through on his opposite foot from 30 metres out, a kick of exhaustion that still went through for the greatest goal of the year. If only it was caught on video.
Reserves - Diggers Rest v Sunbury Kangaroos
The rematch of last year's Grand Final should have been a great contest. Sunbury Kangaroos went into the game thanks to a big last minute win over Wallan, Diggers Rest did as it pleased against Macedon on the same week.
Sunbury missed Garth Ploog up forward but it didn't seem to matter as the Burras wouldn't allow the ball to get anywhere near him. With the returning Sean Egan in the ruck, the Burras opened up a handy 18-point lead at quarter-time, holding the Roos goalless. Joey Piccolo dominated in the term, kicking all of Diggers' score of 3.3 and also had an out of bounds on the full.
Brad Wilson was strong up forward as Digger Rest opened up a 31-point lead before disaster struck. Club legend and league leading goal kicker Chris Payne went down with a snapped achillies tendon, just as his team looked like marching into a Grand Final. Payne had a frustrating first term and sadly, it ended in tragedy.
The Burras closed out the first half 52-point leaders. The goals flowed in the third term. Sunbury kicked its first goal through Matt Baird at the 21 minute mark of the term, 71 minutes into the game and its opponents had 14 on the board. The Burras marched on to an 86-point win. Egan was outstanding, Piccolo had five goals on the board.
Seniors - Diggers Rest v Broadford
Many tipped this match to be a preview of the Grand Final. The Roos had not dropped a game since its round four defeat by Diggers Rest, a team that had ran away with the contest in the second half to dispatch Macedon.
The game started in bizarre cirumstances with Broadford backman Rhys Smith coming off the ground with the blood rule before the siren started. This was further worsened when James Philpot went down with a foot injury just minutes into the game.
Broadford was forced to use Cam Dawson in the ruck against 200 gamer Marchewka and it took a handy eight-point lead into quarter-time. Romanyk was outstanding with three first term goals while Williams kicked two for the Burras.
Rex Hickman put the Roos out to a 14-point lead 90 seconds into the second term with a strong mark in the goal square. The Roos attacked the ball hard with Brodie Holland did as he pleased across half back.
Despite the game being played on the opposition's terms, Diggers Rest hit the front with final two goals of the half to lead by a point at the main break in a hard, physical game. Diggers Rest led for 10.5 minutes as opposed to Broadford's 36.5 minutes in the first half.
The third term started with Josh Wallace taking an uncontested mark against Broadford's Brodie Holland in the opening minute that led to the youngster kicking a goal on the former AFL star moments later. With Tuckey out for the Burras for the remainder of the game, Diggers Rest still stayed ahead against a determined Roos.
Lance Picoiane was yellow carded late in the term for the Roos who were reduced to 17 men in the shadows of three quarter time.
The last term had the Burras kick eight unsanswered goals, the final 10 of ths mtch to win by 69-points. The low moment of the term was when Broadford's Justin Webb was reported with moments left to play in an incident that involved Diggers Rest's Freeth.
Tom Gleeson was the best man on the ground, doing as he pleased across half back.
SUNDAY - Riddell - First semi-finals
Under 18.5s - Diggers Rest v Macedon
The Burras were set to run riot against an undermanned Macedon outfit, missing Ed Morrissey up forward due to stress fractures.
Josh Whatman was on song up forward with five first half goals as Diggers Rest opened up a handy 44-point lead at half-time. Kevin Royal was outstanding early for the Burras while Jacob McNicol was solid for the Cats.
The Burras had nine goals on the board before Macedon kicked its first goal through Montessori at the 17 minute mark, ending 67 goalless minutes.
Diggers Rest put the foot down in the final term to to win the game and advance to the preliminary final thanks to an 88-point win.
Reserves - Macedon v Riddell
The Cats went into the game coming off a big loss to Diggers Rest in week one of the finals. The Bombers stunned the third placed Rupertswood outfit to pull off the biggest upset win of week one of the finals.
The Bombers started strongly and never looked back in a clinical performance. Cam Casson was all over the ground, Rhys Lowry was strong down back and Dylan Tirkpos was relentless. The Bombers extended their leads from 11 points, 19 points, 27 points and to 38 points at the final siren.
Wayne Sanders was the best for the Cats while Beau Corrigan was strong in the backline. Aaron Christiansen kicked three and Al Meldrum kicked two goals.
Seniors - Macedon v Riddell
The best game of the weekend was saved to last in an absolute ripper.
Riddell welcomed back Matt Sammut into the midfield while Macedon welcomed back Teghan Henderson down back and Dan Trotta in the forward line.
When the siren sounded to conclude the match, the biggest margin of the day was just 18-points.
Ben Said and Croft opened up the account for the Bombers in the first term in a quick start. Darren Goodwin took a strong mark and kicked a goal for the Cats while team mate Matt Knox marked and goaled to put the Cats in front for the first and only time of the day, minutes later.
Riddell kicked three goals either side of quarter time, inspired by Nolan who took the ball out of a ruck contest and snapped around the body for the second of five goals for the game as the margin reached 18 points.
Macedon’s Josh Eastley snapped a goal from around the corner of the body and team mate Waters roved from the pack to kick a stunning goal to bridge the gap to seven points at the main break.
Jason Cooke kicked two goals in a minute early in the third term as the margin moved to one point.
Macedon’s Jack Mills was yellow carded at the 14 minute mark of the term. Riddell made the most of this with three straight goals in his absence either side of three quarter time.
Macedon had Cooke at one end and Riddell had Said and Nolan at the other. When Said kicked his fourth goal at the 12.5 minute mark for the final term, the margin was 18 points and the Bombers looked home.
Two goals in as many minutes from Dan Markworth bought the margin back to just one kick in a blink of an eye. The highlight was a running goal from the centre bounce to spark life back into the game.
It was goal for goal as Riddell held firm. Macedon had the last four scoring shots of the game in the final five minutes for a return of 1.3, falling short when the siren sounded with the ball in its forward line. The Bombers reduced a three point win in an epic encounter.
Last Modified on 07/09/2016 10:36