By Russell Bennett
WEST GIPPSLAND FOOTBALL NETBALL COMPETITION
REVIEW – AFL VICTORIA COMMUNITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
For those who didn’t venture out to Saturday’s senior game at Yarragon’s Dowton Park between the home side Ellinbank and District Football League and the visiting West Gippsland Football Netball Competition, but saw the eventual 70-plus point scoreline the WGFNC’s way – 19.17 (131) to 9.4 (58) – it might have appeared to be a dominant win from the outset.
But it was anything but that.
After his second year at the helm of West Gippsland side, and two victorious campaigns with the Alberton league prior to that, Mark Lafferty boasts a perfect senior interleague coaching record.
But his group’s performance was anything but perfect on Saturday, and much of the credit for that – particularly in the first half – has to go to Daniel Fry’s Ellinbank group.
“I thought we were pretty selfish in, probably, that first half,” Lafferty said with trademark honesty.
“Guys were worried about themselves and it wasn’t the team thing that needed to be done.
“Even in close, we weren’t giving handballs we should have given and we weren’t spreading away the way we should have either.
“On the outside they had wingers who were holding their width out wide, and they got the footy.
“We were pretty dumb in a lot of our setting up behind the footy too – we didn’t roll up, and we allowed loose defenders to sit behind the ball.”
But after being on the receiving end of a few home truths at half-time, the West Gippy boys burst out of the blocks in the third term.
“The third quarter was our best by far,” Lafferty said.
“We started to run and use the handball and the options that were on. That’s what allowed us to cut them apart a bit.”
While a number of WGFNC players showed flashes of their best footy on Saturday, or displayed it for a quarter, or even a half, Kilcunda Bass young gun Jake Weightman was impressively consistent and earned his best on ground medal.
“I thought Jake played four quarters where he mopped up really well down back,” Lafferty said.
“His ball use coming out was really good for us, and I thought he was the four-quarter performer out of all the players we had, to be honest.”
Lafferty also praised his two on-field leaders, skipper Dylan Clark and his deputy Zak Vernon.
“Dyl obviously took some really good marks in that last quarter, but he halted a lot of their entries and he used it really well coming out,” he said.
“In the first half we didn’t use it as well as we could have – we probably turned it over a little bit.
“Our forwards in that first half probably didn’t take the marks they normally would have. We fumbled a lot, and I thought that was because of the pressure they brought.
“We were probably worried about what was coming, and that caused us to fumble more than I think we would have otherwise.”
But Lafferty was massively impressed with his group’s resolve, and the way his boys responded after being tested early.
In fact, he said the group had all the traits of an interleague side that would travel well together if the situation arose in 2020.
But in analysing Saturday’s first half, Lafferty pulled no punches.
“There’s no doubt as a coaching staff and playing group that we probably got in front of ourselves a bit,” he said.
“You tell yourself so many things, and all of a sudden you just think they’re going to happen… but they didn’t.
“Credit to them, they (the EDFL) came out really well, but to our boys’ credit they didn’t just cruise along in the end and win by 30 or 40 points. They really put the foot on the throat in that third quarter.
“I gave it to the boys a bit at half-time about the expectations and what we needed to do, so it was great to see them answer in the manner they did.
“Everybody wants to talk about the competition and where it sits, but we have to prove it – we can’t just say it and not back it up. I was rapt the boys could back it up in the end.”
From Weightman’s own perspective, he said there was an “electric feeling” among the WGFNC senior group.
He loved the opportunity to once again take the field with a host of the competition’s best players.
“It’s one of those feelings where you’re literally pinching yourself,” he said.
“I was looking around and thinking about it – there’s great players everywhere, and they’ve had their impact on the game in some way shape or form, whether it’s up forward, through the midfield, or down back. It was unreal.
“There was a bit of expectation attached to the game because we didn’t want to mess it up.
“Credit to the Ellinbank boys, they really gave it to us up until half-time.
“Down back it was coming in pretty hot, so I was thinking if they could do that for four quarters we’d have a real ball game on our hands.
“We were probably trying to be too cute with the footy at first, but once we opened it up blokes like Dyl Clark really stood up.”
Weightman beamed when he spoke about what the senior interleague experience means to him.
“I’m always probably the smallest one and the loudest one in the group,” he said.
“I love getting amongst the boys, and just making people who come in to the group feel comfortable. That’s what I like to bring. It’s a really tight bond that you have at this level.
“There’s a great culture that we have now in the West Gippy group, and it’s just going to get better and better.
“It’s looking great for us, and I think we should be a lot better ranked.”
He admits he uses prior experiences of knockbacks at higher levels to spur his footy on – to act as a motivator.
“Being rejected can be pretty hard, but you take what you can out of your opportunities.”
Is that a motivator?
“100 per cent.”
