Football
22 July, 2025
Nhill claim win with last quarter comeback
Dimboola were defeated by Nhill in a closely fought match at Davis Park on Saturday.
Final scores were Dimboola 6.7 (43) to Nhill 6.15 (51).
Dimboola were in a better position heading into the last quarter, up 41 to 34, but they managed only 0.2 in the quarter to Nhill's 2.5, seeing them defeated by eight points.
Jackson Calder booted three majors for Dimboola while his offsiders in Tyson Kent and Jonathon Ross were best on ground, and for Nhill, Xavier Bone kicked two goals, with Liam Albrecht and Daniel Batson among their best.
While co-coaches of Dimboola Andrew Moore and Dean Toet would have been disappointed by the loss, on the other side of the result was co-coach of Nhill, Trevor Ryan, who said he was happy to come away with the points after a challenging game.
"They are a good side, Dimboola, especially with all their Darwin boys playing," Ryan said.
"They led most of the day and we just did enough in areas in that last quarter to get above them and hold the lead.
"We were happy as a team after the win, especially are being smashed by virtually 12 goals the first time around."
Ryan said around the contest, Dimboola were strong, and early on they dominated in that area, whether it was in the centre or around the ground.
"They are physically a strong team and exit the ball easier and it took us most of the game to work our way into getting first use of the footy," he said.
"But we were rapt we could counteract that and slow it down in the last quarter.
"We were then able to play the ball a little more in our half than theirs, which made the difference."
Although the side made some changes to their middle mix, opting for some bodies that were a bit stronger, Ryan said he addressed the side about accountability, which made a difference.
He said the addition of Frazer Driscoll in the middle made an impact.
"Frazer, who played his first game for Dimboola this year after coming back from North Adelaide, is an ex-local and played across half back," Ryan said.
"In the last quarter we thought we would put him in the middle to give us a bit more body strength over the ball and we thought it made a big difference."
Ryan said he was pleased his side worked their way through the game and never gave up, sticking to their game plan and ball movement as best as they could.
"We kept plugging away," Ryan said.
"We knew they were going to be hard to beat with their full team in, so we just changed a few things up, but in that last quarter we had to maintain possession of the footy more than they could, and we did that."
And coming into finals Ryan said it would only benefit his side having such a close hitout with a side they could potentially play at the pointy end of the season.
"I think one of our strengths in both our club and our list is we do believe in our ability to run out games, so our fitness is good in that way," he said.
"And getting a win back on them, psychologically, is going to be good for us going forward, because if we do meet them in the finals, which could be the case at some stage, you never know, we know we can do what we can do to win the game."