Grand final bound: Tim Strapp (left) and Luke Donnell celebrate a first-half goal in the 58-point semi-final win in Saturday’s qualifying semi-final against Murchison-Toolamba at Stanhope. They were among eight players in the team who had played seniors with the Wombats this season.
Eight players with senior Kyabram District League games under their belt this year were a part of the dominant Lancaster reserve grade team, which, as expected, waltzed into a second successive grand final against Murchison-Toolamba on Saturday.
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The Wombats dominated from start to finish, allowing its opposition just one minor score in the first half and leading the game at Stanhope Recreation Reserve by 43 points at half-time.
A less inspired four-goals-to-two after the long break gave the Wombats a 10.14 (74) to 2.4 (16) victory as three of those players with significant senior experience this year played key roles in the result.
Lancaster remains unbeaten after 17 games this season and will spend this weekend, alongside its senior squad, watching from the sidelines before returning to Mooroopna Recreation Reserve for the Saturday, September 16 grand final in the 12.30pm time slot.
Luke Donnell, who was one of the eight players in the team on Saturday to have spent time in the senior team this year, was best on ground in the victory.
He played eight games at the top level and six, before Saturday, in the reserves.
Jack Elliott and Zaid Besim, both members of the senior premiership last year, were also in the team.
Besim has played 10 senior games this year and Elliott three.
Last season Besim kicked 32 in his 17 games for the senior Wombats.
He was one of three players to kick two goals in the qualifying semi-final win.
Best seat in the house: Tim Strapp and Luke Donnell were among the Wombats’ best players as they won through the qualifying semi-final earn a shot at defending the Kyabram league reserve grade title they won last year. The grand final is on September 16 at Mooroopna.
Tim Strapp was another of the team’s best performers on Saturday.
Last year, he played eight games in the senior team and kicked 22 goals (including a bag of 10 against Rushworth).
He has this year played three senior games and 12 in the reserves, kicking 41 at that level (after 37, for a total of 59 in both grades, last year).
Riley O’Neill, last year’s heartbreak story when he played all 19 senior games before playing the grand final with the reserve grade team, has also played three senior games in 2023 (along with 12, including Saturday, in the reserves).
Shannon Fleming, a member of Lancaster’s losing Under-18s team last year, has also played three senior games this season and was in the winning reserve grade team on Saturday.
Ruckman Sam Jackson (two senior games this year) and another of the Northcote Park recruits, Kaden Coleman (three senior games), were also in the team.
Coleman has kicked 15 goals in his three reserve grade games this year.
Newcomers to the team Oliver McAuliffe, Jake Ross and Luke Rennie, along with the returning Luke Donnell, were not a part of last year’s grand final winning team.
All played on Saturday, McAuliffe among the team’s best players.
Charles Lowe, who was a 2022 premiership player, has been among his team’s most consistent players this year and his two goal performance on Saturday came with plenty of possessions in the midfield.
Coaching from the sidelines: Lancaster reserves coach Michael Mott (yellow arm band) takes a keen interest in the form of Trent McNamara as the Wombats win their 17th game of the season and remain on track for a premiers and champions title.
