Four rounds of the Goulburn Murray Junior League’s Under-16 grading season ended on Sunday with Kyabram dominating its Echuca opposition and ending the trial period with three wins.
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Despite horribly inaccurate kicking in the second term the Bombers were in front from start to finish and ended the month long grading period with wins against not only the Echuca Bombers, but also Shepparton United Demons and Moama.
It is now time, however, for the “real stuff” as the team awaits the resumption of the season on May 18 — there is no play this weekend for the Mothers’ Day break.
Kyabram beat Moama by 100 points in round one, again not perfect in front of goal as they kicked 14.24 for the game.
Opportunist forward Archer Backway kicked three goals in that game and mid-field leaders Isaiah Scoble and Cooper O’Neill starred.
Shepparton Notre Bears Gold brought the team back to earth when it won the round two contest by 54 points, finishing the grading season unbeaten — as did the Echuca Murray Bombers outfit.
Alex Whitlock starred for Notre Bears, kicking 11 goals in three games. There were 15 teams involved in the four-week test of strength and Kyabram will no doubt meet these two teams again in the top level of under-16 competition.
Prior to Sundany’s win against Echuca Bombers, the Kyabram team was a 84-point winner against Shepparton United, Backway taking his goalkicking tally to 12 with a bag of eight.
Scoble and Jedd Turpin were also stars in that win.
On Sunday at GV Creamery Oval it was 49-9 at half-time, after Kyabram kicked 1.8 in the second term. They were much more accurate in the third and by full-time had won the game 15.18 (108) to Echuca’s 3.9 (27).
Jedd Turpin played at centre half-forward and kicked four goals (eight for the season so far), while James Priest also kicked four and has nine in the four grading games.
Nathan Kuiper played his best game of the season, while the usual suspects, Scoble and James Hargreaves, were again strong alongside Tom Savage.
Wil Harrison and Riley Carver, both from excellent football stock, kicked two goals apiece and Cooper O’Neill was the other Kyabram multiple goal kicker.
– St Augustine’s Blue won its third straight under-14 GMJL game, meaning it is second only to sister side Gold at the end of three rounds.
The 70-point win against Leitchville-Gunbower, 14.11 (95) to 4.1 (25) came as Jonty Sefton took his season’s tally to 10 goals with a second bag of four goals for the year.
Kade Starling, who has a strong sporting pedigree and has performed well in tennis and netball, kicked three goals in the victory and finished among his team’s best players.
Cooper Wilson and Ethan Greiner kicked two goals apiece in the victory, while others to rate a mention were Asher Porch, Jake Hubble, Sam Bruhn and Regan Scoble.
– Archie Sheppard was at the spearhead of another St Augustine’s Yellow under-14 win, kicking five goals in a 124-point win against Euroa.
He now has 19 goals in four games, although he shared the limelight this week with Charlie Pekin, who also kicked five goals for the Saints.
Timothy Mawley, Flynn Burrows and Max Stockdale all kicked two, while mid-field star Billy Isaac worked with Diesel Emini and Sam Stokes further afield to secure plenty of scoring opportunities for the forward line.
St Augustine’s won the match 19.12 (126) to Euroa’s two points and now has four straight wins.
They have scored 438 points and had just 51 scored against them in the initial stage of the season.
– At under-12 level St Augustine’s Blue and Yellow both suffered defeats at the hands of Moama teams.
Yellow lost by 30 points, 22-52, with Jet Emini, Colman Hargraves and Jeremy Alley its best players.
The Blue team lost 16-110, Max Gould, Nate Willis and Hunter Mallon its best players in the loss.