The Wombats were thrashed by Murchison-Toolamba in the early game, beaten by 80 points in an about face of what they have done to opposition teams since round 19 of 2022 (June 18).
That was the last time the team lost a game. In round six of that same season they lost by 102 points to Avenel, which was unbeaten throughout the home and away season.
The Wombats went into the grand final of 2022 as the underdog, but beat the Swans and hadn’t lost since – until the game against Murchison-Toolamba two weeks ago.
Last year the Lancaster team kicked 2349 points, almost double that of the next best team. They also allowed opposition teams to score only 145 points against them in the home and away matches – on the way to back-to-back reserve grade premierships.
Before the loss to Murchison-Toolamba the Wombats had scored a 112-point win, nine-point win against Shepparton East and a 115-point win against Nagambie.
The Wombats sit third on the ladder as both Murchison-Toolamba and Avenel remain unbeaten after five games.
Lancaster just scraped home against Merrigum, by four points, a week after that first loss and then beat Longwood by 77 points with Steve Grima kicking four (17 for the season) and Luke Rennie three.
- Stanhope sits fifth on the reserve grade ladder and Girgarre has two wins, sitting 10th on the ladder almost half way through the season.
A familiar name popped up for the first time this season in the big win against Undera, premiership star and multi-league best and fairest winner Daryl Harrison kicking two goals in a 123-point win against Undera.
Shannon Aynsley was the star of that game, kicking 10 goals to take his tally to 27 from four games. He kicked eight in the round two win against Girgarre and seven the following week against Dookie United.
That was followed by a 68-point win against Tallygaroopna (senior midfielder Layne Baker kicking six goals) and a 105-point win against Violet Town.
Baker (13 in three games) kicked another four, as did Josh Canny and Shanon McMahon-Kinnear. Aynsley kicked three and has 30 from six games this season.
Girgarre’s best result this season came in round four against Rushworth, a 76-point win courtesy of six goals from Jared McMahon. Dylan Wade has kicked seven goals in his five games, including two bags of three goals.
Only a fortnight ago they beat Merrigum by 18 points on the back of great games from Simon Tomasini, Bill Gahan, Gerard Hanratty and Jared McMahon (two goals).
Merrigum has experienced both ends of the spectrum in the reserve grade competition, a 208-point loss (without scoring against the powerful Murchison-Toolamba combination) and a 99-point loss to Nagambie, along with a pair of 100-point victories against Rushworth and Longwood.
Troy Pearce (11 goals), Jayd Gash and Mitch Rowney (seven each) and captain Bradley Hocking have been the mainstays of the team.
Under-18
Lancaster’s only two defeats of the new season have both come against Nagambie, in a quirk of the draw which has seen the teams play in rounds four and six.
They played the reigning premier, who beat them in last year’s grand final, for the second time in a Friday night fixture at Merrigum Recreation Reserve.
There are nine teams in the competition, Lancaster sitting third behind unbeaten Nagambie and second ranked Violet Town. The teams play for a third time in round 14.
Joshua Dunne has kicked 12 goals in eight games, vice captain Nathan Oliver has kicked 12 and been among the best players in all six of his under age appearances, while Declan Hallett has 15 goals from five games.
The Wombats 133-point pre-bye win against Longwood has set it up for a tilt at Violet Town this weekend.
Stanhope’s first win of the Under-18 season came against Tallygaroopna when Slater Sinclair was best on ground and had support from Rory Wileman.
The team sits second bottom on the ladder, but has some winnable games in the coming weeks – against seventh ranked Murchison-Toolamba, bottom team Longwood and sixth ranked Tally – for the second time this season.
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