By Alex Woods
What a weekend. Non-stop sports from 8:30am all the way through to 5:30pm. Netball, junior boys footy, girls footy, senior footy. Then off-field, Didgeridoo performances, guest speakers, luncheons, presentations and more. Warburton-Millgrove Football Netball Club couldn’t be happier and prouder of how the day was run, the people who supported and the Indigenous community. A massive thank you to the small committee that helped organise and run the day as well as set up and ensure everything was ready to go. A bigger thank you to First Nations Traffic Control for supporting the event and making a contribution that assisted us to put on this day immensely. Well done to Nelson Aldridge for all his work, also. The key message behind our Indigenous Round was to connect the community through culture and sport and to create reconciliation. The crowd and support it had, showed the message had a positive impact on everyone.
The day started with the 17 and Under netball. The team knew they had a tough battle this weekend and unfortunately couldn’t result with a win, going down by 1 goal. The team showed great resilience and team effort throughout, but couldn’t hold the lead they had in the beginning.
The best performers for this match were Lucas Rush, Tayah Humphrey and Tegan Butcher. Tayah managed to put up 13 goals, Amarli Weir with 2 and Tahlia Thornton with 1. 3 games left this team who are currently sitting fourth. Some big wins will be needed to remain in finals contention.
Next saw D Grade take the court. Another big match was set to be had between the two teams and Powelltown secured the last few wins by only a couple of goals. With a game leader changing at every break. It was Warburton who showed their strength and secured the win by 1 goal. With strong defence work and again, showed great resilience to keep their calm throughout. Final scores were 26-25 with Cam Holland securing 17 and Cam Partel with 9. Best players were Courtney Godenzi, Nicole Winzer and Cam Holland.
As the Under 18s had finished their home and away season, the club took the opportunity to host Wesburn Juniors to showcase their Junior talent. The Under 9’s and 11’s take on each other in a Doggies v Burras match and they absolutely loved it! Straight after the girls took the ground with the Under 12’s and Under 14’s playing in the same format. It was great to see the Wesburn kids take the same field that their dads will later on in the day. Thank you to Wesburn Junior Football Club for their support on the day (especially helping out with the Canteen) and for purchasing Indigenous Merchandise. It was great to see everyone connecting culture through sport.
C Grade was on the court next, in what was a tighter game for the girls this week. Only having the lead at halftime by 2 goals, they managed to secure the win by 8 goals. They managed to retain their strength and hold the 8-goal lead from three-quarter time until the end. Mel Hancock shot 15 goals and Emily Hay with 16. Brooke de Pedro also contributed 5 goals. Top performers were Ellie Stahl, Emily Hay and Bianca Fraser.
Reserves took the field for Nic Toy’s Big 250th game in custom Indigenous gear. With close margins in the first half of the match, the boys were able to run away with the lead having a 37-point margin at three-quarter time. The final score was 12.8-80 to Powelltown 3.4-22, with Damien Egan kicking 3 goals, Nic Toy managed to secure 2 and Jamie Nelson, Josh Read, Dan Schlueter, Matt Sidari, Ash Taylor, Aaron Walley and Lee Weir all kick 1 goal each in another fine team effort. Top performers for this game were Jamie Nelson, Daniel Schlueter, Lee Weir, Tyson Henry and Aaron Pye.
B Grade wore dresses with the art created by Cindy Mills. In another tough match, the Warburton-Millgrove girls knew they had a strong fight against the undefeated Powelltown side. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the win resulting in a 27-50 loss. Jordana Butcher shot 6 goals, Alex Woods with 9 and Ella Meerkotter with 2. The best players for this match were Sally McIntosh, Jordana Butcher and Kelly Lewis.
A Grade finished off the netball with another solid performance. Rachael Maxwell, former Indigenous Netball player starred in the toss of the coin and the game started with a strong start
with the girls having a 2-goal lead in the first break. They managed to create some space between the score, leading at half time by 9 goals. They finished off the match strong securing a 54-41 win.
Player of the Match was awarded to Shae Gee by the umpires, with Ally Langdon and Bianca Daniels also putting on a solid performance. Shae Gee secured 31 goals to her name, Bianca with
13 and Kirralee Luiyf with 10.
The day concluded with an acknowledgement of Country conducted by Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child.
Thank you Jim for quickly stepping in with short notice. Elijah Louttit was amazing on the Didgeridoo performing in the Social Rooms to guests and also in the Pre-Game Ceremony.
Courtney Ugle, the amazing guest speaker for the day conducted the coin toss with Captain for the day, Nelson Aldridge and Ben Wratten, then the big match was underway. Warburton-Millgrove went in as
underdogs and had to call upon some Under 18’s and Reserves boys to fill in some space of some unwanted injuries.
A tough match was set to be had, but the boys didn’t let Powelltown run away.
The club is so proud of the physical and mental strength of our playing group and produced some pretty tough football. We saw a first in history for the club with Scott Muir playing alongside his oldest Son, Blake Muir in the senior match. The boys put on a show in the first quarter kicking 5 goals straight to Powelltown’s 6.1. The game continued with a close margin, with only being down by 2 points at halftime. By this point, what the boys had produced was inspirational and shows they can do anything if they put their mind and physical strength to it.
Unfortunately, Powelltown did run away slightly in the third quarter but Warburton-Millgrove managed to stay right on their tails. The game resulted in a 13.5-83 finish to Powelltown 15.10-100.
Scott Muir once again showed his strength and kicking ability by securing 4 goals for the game. Trent Elliott, Tom Marr and Shannon Noonan all secured 2 goals each and Noah Erickson, Blake Muir (with his dad by his side), and Brady Mitchell all secured 1.
Nelson Aldridge played an amazing game, despite all the pressure of the day, and was awarded Player of the Match by the umpires. Liam Barnard, Brayden Woolridge, Aiden Westlake, Thomas Marr and Jack Farrugia were also top performers for this game.
Although the game didn’t result in Warburton-Millgrove’s way, the day felt like a win with all the support from the community and the way the day succeeded was in itself. Thank you to everyone who made the
effort to attend our venue, contributed in any form, and participated in any way. It makes the club and community really feel like a family and Warburton-Millgrove couldn’t be prouder of everyone.
Coming up for Warburton-Millgrove is a bye for football this weekend which will allow them to rest and recover before finals soon approach. The netball girls will take on Yea at hosted by Alexandra. Good luck girls.
