Interleague 2023 - review
The Ovens and Murray have retained the Ash-Wilson Trophy with a thrilling victory over the Goulburn Valley at the Albury Sportsground on Saturday.
In one of the all-time classic interleague games seen for decades, the OM had to come from behind in the last quarter to win an epic contest in front of 1300 spectators.
It takes the OMFL overall record against the GV to 17 wins and 10 losses with the winning stretch now at 13 years since the Goulburn Valley has defeated its arch-rival.
It took two late goals from Matt Casey and Dylan Stone in time on to snatch a seven-point victory 13-14-92 to 13-7-85 in a game that had momentum swings throughout.
It looked like the locals were going to record a thumping win when they led by 34 points at quarter-time after kicking six goals to one.
The second quarter was all the visitors kicking three goals to nothing to reduce the margin to 17 points at halftime after the OM had missed several easy chances.
Two goals to Lavington’s Ewan Mackinlay broke the OM goal drought but they were to be the only goals as the GV added another five goals to lead by 2 points at the last change.
The GV started brilliantly in the last term kicking the first two goals to take a 15-point lead before Riley Bice stepped up with a strong mark and a great lead and goal to get the deficit to three points.
With just nine minutes left, the scores were level as Lucas Conlan goaled for the OM to hit the lead. The GV responded brilliantly when Magro and Evans goaled for the visitors to hit the front.
In a tension-packed finish, it was Matt Casey who got on the end of a kick into the goal square and then Dylan Stone snapped brilliantly with just twenty seconds left to lead by seven points.
Riley Bice was awarded best on ground by the umpires with fellow Albury teammates Lucas Conlan and Jim Grills not far behind him.
Josh Mathey, Brodie Filo, Julian Hayes and Charlie Morrison were also amongst the best, while for the GV Jack Evans, Kaine Herbert and Bryce Stephenson stood out.
A poor start by OM in the netball proved very costly with the GV running out 39-36 winners in another outstanding contest that almost had the locals pull off a huge come-from-behind win.
The GV scored the first five goals of the game and at one stage led by nine goals early in the second term. The OM fought back to reduce the margin to just five at halftime.
The influence of Maddy Allan on the court proved pivotal as the local girls levelled the scores at 29-29 going into the last quarter.
In a thrilling final term, the O and M hit the front on three occasions before the GVL dominated the last half of the quarter to win by three goals.
GVL goalkeeper Sarah Szcykulski was named best on the court, while at the other end of the court goal shooter Sheridan Townrow shot 28 goals.
Emily Stewart was outstanding for the OM with 17 goals, and wing defence Ellie Copper was another of the OM to thrive at the high-paced level the game provided.
The Under eighteen football contest was all O and M winning 13-11-89 to GVL 4-6-30, the Black and Gold’s third quarter of 4-5 to nothing sealed the result.
James Webb was named best on the ground, with other good players being Ned Twycross, Charlie Ross, Harvey Cribbes and Daniel Finninmore.
A winning forward line led by four goals to Corby Robertson and three each to Charlie Holland-Dean and Judd Schubert played a huge role in the win.
The O and M under 17 netballers fought back from a quarter-time deficit to power away with a convincing 57-42 victory.
Ava Koschitzke led the comeback and was duly named best on the court. The local’s goal shooting accuracy was also a big factor with Lilly McKimmie (30 goals) and Mia Lavis (30 goals) superb.
