Kyabram catapulted itself to the top rung of the Goulburn Valley League’s 2023 ladder with a 128-point win against Benalla on Saturday.
The Bombers’ ladder leadership may be short-lived, however, as an Echuca win over Mansfield this weekend in the second half of the split round will see it return to the top of the 12-team premiership table.
SCOREBOARD
Kyabram: 3.8, 9.9, 11.9, 24.20 (164)
Benalla: 0.2, 3.4, 3.4, 5.6 (36)
Goals
Kyabram: K. Mueller 7, B. Mangan, T. Holman 4, C. Barnett, H. Gemmill, W. Golds 2, B. Whitford, L. Ogden, R. Ironside.
Benalla: J. Mellington 3, T. Feehan, T. O’Brien.
Best
Kyabram: K. Mueller, Z. Norris, T. Holman, K. Herbert, L. Ogden.
Benalla: J. Martiniello, C. Welsh, T. Bennett, J. Wolff, S. Harris.
Kyabram kicked 24 goals from 44 scoring shots and gave its percentage a healthy boost with a runaway win over Benalla in the first half of the GVL split round on Saturday.
Skilful Kyle Mueller, with seven goals, led a host of nine individual goal-kickers for the Bombers as they romped to a 21-goal win.
Mueller and key forwards Brad Magan and Tom Holman, with four goals each, were joined by other multiple goal-kickers in Charlie Barnett and Will Golds as the Bombers piled on 24.20 (164) to Benalla’s 5.6 (36), with four of the visitors’ five goals coming from the boot of Josh Mellington.
It was another good team effort from the Bombers, with every player chipping in at stages to give the side its biggest win for the season.
Ruckman Zac Norris was totally dominant again with his much anticipated clash with Benalla ace Josh Marchant not eventuating when the Saints’ big man didn’t play.
Veteran former AFL star Jarrad Waite also missed, so Benalla was well behind the eight ball from the start, although at times it moved the ball quite well.
Kyabram midfielders and on-ballers Kaine Herbert, Reuben Rode, Liam Ogden, Charlie Barnett, Will Golds, Anthony DePasquale, Josh Dillon and Toby Wooller cashed in on Norris’ dominance but also won the hard ball themselves on plenty of occasions.
Kyabram had Barnett, Depasquale and Rode, all players under 20, in its midfield to take some of the load off the experienced Herbert, Ogden and Hayden Gemmill.
Kyabram’s defence again stood up with key men Lachie Smith and Jason Morgan again getting plenty of support, particularly from Riley Ironside and Brad Whitford.
Kyabram was without regular senior players Kayne Pettifer, Zac Keogh, Rhys Clarke and young guns Mitch Dodos and Archie Watt and has a rest this weekend before taking on Rochester at Kyabram on Saturday week.
My best for Kyabram were: Zac Norris, Kaine Herbert, Kyle Mueller, Tom Holman, Lachie Smith, Reuben Rode, Anthony Depasquale, Charlie Barnett, Brad Mangan.
• Benalla’s reserves forfeited and Kyabram’s thirds bounced back from a surprise loss to Mansfield the previous week with a big win.
The young Bombers jumped the visitors, kicking 6.2 to 0.1 in the first term to set the mood for the game.
Bailey White with five goals, Bailey Pyke and Ben Railton with three each and Max Carroll with two kept the scoreboard ticking over throughout the game for the home side. They capitalised on the work of Miller Griffths, arguably best afield, skipper Bohden Learmonth and Sam Marland in particular.
Kyabram held second place with the win and coach Peter Hall is now preparing the team for the run to the finals which starts Saturday week against Rochester, before meeting flag favourite Echuca and then finals aspirants Shepparton and Mooroopna.
