Eastern goes number one

Gippsland League interleague coach Harmit Singh presents the best on ground medal to Eddie Morris on Saturday.

By Nick Creely, Hayley Wildes and Russell Bennett

AROUND THE GROUNDS – INTERLEAGUE

EASTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The Eastern Football League defeated the Geelong Football Netball League, 16.9 (105) to 9.9 (63), to claim the number one ranking in the AFL Victoria Community Championships.

The battle between the one and two ranked teams took place at Etihad Stadium prior to the AFL clash between Collingwood and St Kilda.

The EFL got off to a strong start – leading by two goals at the first break – and a thrilling contest ensued over the middle two quarters as a high-quality game of football took place.

With the game in the balance and a 12-point lead heading into the final term, the boys from Eastern put their foot down in an impressive final quarter display.

The likes of Liam Wale-Buxton and Tom Schneider (Vermont), Leigh Williams and Lachlan McDonald (Norwood) put on a show for the EFL and ensured the team was able to keep the Geelong at bay through the middle parts of the game and then explode away in the fourth.

Seven goals to two in the final term saw EFL run out 42-point winners.

Leigh Williams (seven goals) was awarded the best on ground medal for EFL. For Geelong, Jack Blood was named best.

The win secured the EFL the number one ranking heading into 2019, where they’re set to do battle with the Northern Football League after they took care of the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football league.

GIPPSLAND LEAGUE

The Gippsland footy community is celebrating after the region’s three participating leagues recorded a clean-sweep in the Community Championships.

Highlighting the stellar weekend of seven wins from as many games, the senior Gippsland League team recorded its first victory since 2015 with a comprehensive 62-point win over the Murray Football Netball League at Ted Summerton Reserve in Moe.

A couple of Drouin boys starred as the Gippy League capitalised on its strong start to storm to a big win, 15.19 (109) to 7.5 (47).

Vice-captain and ruckman Bob McCallum took a pair of contested marks in the goal square in the early going to set the tone, while star midfielder Eddie Morris (formerly of Garfield and Casey) was awarded the AFL Victoria Medal as the best player in the clash.

AFL Gippsland region general manager Travis Switzer said he was pleased to see Gippsland teams perform so strongly on the big stage.

“The Gippsland region has a proud and decorated history when it comes to representative football and seven wins from seven games is an outstanding achievement,” he said.

“There’s no doubt our results have been a little disappointing in recent years but hopefully these are the first steps to moving our teams back up the rankings.”

SOUTHERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The 22nd ranked Southern Football Netball League took care of the 23rd ranked North Central Football League in a thrilling contest at Boort Park.

The SFNL got off to a flying start, kicking seven of the first eight majors, but North Central fought their way back into the contest in the latter stages of the second quarter to be just 13 points adrift at the main break.

A back and forth third quarter provided plenty of action and an enthralling contest was in session. SFNL took a 19-point lead into the final break, thanks largely to the terrific play of Chris Carey (East Malvern), Lucas Walmsley (Dingley) and Josh Fox (Cheltenham).

North Central came out with desperation and intent in the final quarter, but SFNL fought tooth and nail to hold on for a well-deserved nine-point win, 13.6 (84) to 12.3 (75).

Carey was awarded the best on ground medal for SFNL, while Josh Fox was crucial up forward with five goals. The win sees SFNL rise to 20th on the 2019 AFL Victoria Community Championship rankings.

MORNINGTON PENINSULA

The Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League has fallen further down the AFL Victoria rankings after a tough 40-point loss to the Northern Football League in the Community Championships on Saturday.

The Sharks have slipped to fifth in the rankings, with Northern surging up the table into second spot after a stunning, dominant win at Preston City Oval.

A horribly inaccurate 0.7 from Northern had the Sharks up by 14 points at quarter time after goals to Sam Fox, Billy Quigley and Luke Hewitt had them flying, but after quarter time the host team put down the clamps, taking a six point half time lead after booting four goals to one in the second term.

The Sharks worked hard to try and bring themselves back in the contest, but were undone by some errant goal kicking, and eventually went into the final quarter with a 13 point deficit.

Despite the best efforts of Fox and star midfielder Lachie Wallace, Northern kicked away, finally finding their kicking boots to kick six final term goals, 7.7 (49) to 12.17 (89).

As a result of the loss for the Sharks, they are scheduled to host Goulburn Valley next year as per the current ratings, which are subject to change.