Football
22 July, 2025
Ararat get points over Eagles
Ararat got the points over Warrack in the latest round of Wimmera Football Netball League, 11.16 (82) to 2.1 (13).
The ladder leaders got off to a good start, booting 3.4 in the first quarter while holding the Eagles to no score.
Scores were more even in the second, with Ararat scoring 2.3 to the Eagles' couple of goals, but it would be the only time the side from Warrack would find the big sticks for the match.
Again, holding the Eagles to no score, Ararat piled in 4.5 in the third, and 2.4 in the final quarter, with Warrack only managing a point.
The deficit in the end was 69 points.
Jack Ganley was brilliant in the forward line for Ararat, booting five majors, while the goals for the Eagles came from Lachlan Braine and Ned Grieve.
Better players for both sides were James Jennings and Patrick Toner for the winners and Riley Morrow and Sam Hayden for Warrack.
Coach of the Eagles, Matt Walder, reflected on the game, saying it was always going to be a challenge.
'"They are a good side and a complete team," Walder said.
"We weren't on our game early on, which allowed them to open up the match a bit more freely than we probably should.
"We had the breeze as such and we didn't make use of it at all, while Ararat settled in.
"We challenged in the second, to make a bit of a game of it, but yeah, we just couldn't hang on after that for long enough, and as much as we were defensively okay, we just couldn't penetrate again and subsequently they shut us down forward of the footy."
Ararat again booted 16 points, the equal second highest they have kicked this season, and Walder attributed a portion of these to his side's defensive pressure.
"I'd say half and half: half of those shots they could have easily kicked and then there was some down to our pressure, but essentially it was difficult to kick goals with the wind, the angle it was blowing it closed off the front of goals for both teams," he said.
"It was hard to negotiate."
When Ararat and the Eagles met earlier in the season, Warrack lost by 103 points, and their coach said he could see improvement in part in the game Saturday from that first time.
"We fought for longer periods and we met our benchmarks, probably for half the game," Walder said.
"We did fight deeper in the game this time."
Walder paid credit to Morrow, who he said played a couple of different roles for them during the game.
"He played through the middle and the outside and he was probably our most consistent over the four quarters," the coach said.
"Charlie Penny was good for us too and similarly he kept bobbing up and getting important possessions for us.
"Matty Penny for us in defence, he battled valiantly against the tide."