Football
16 September, 2025
Ararat overrun Nhill to book Grand Final spot
The grand finalists in seniors for the Wimmera Football Netball League have been decided after Ararat recovered from being down at halftime to claim a 57-point win over Nhill on Saturday.
The difference was just a point in Nhill's favour at the end of the first quarter, 5.0 30 to 4.5 29, but they had grown that lead to five points by halftime, 9.1 (55) to 7.8 (50).
Ararat, though, came out firing in the second term, booting 5.3 to Nhill's 0.3 in the third to be 12.11 (83) to 9.4 (58), before following it up with a 7.4 to 2.2 final quarter to win 19.15 (129) to 11.6 (72).
Hugh Toner and Naish McRoberts led the Ararat side, along with Tom Williamson, who found the big sticks five times, while Frazer Driscoll and Petros Politis battled hard for Nhill all day, and Clay Shadforth and Drew Schneider kept the score ticking, each with three goals.
Ararat co-coach Tom Mills said their opposition made a fantastic start to the game on Saturday, with accuracy and capitalising on their opportunities.
"I think we started the game well, probably just a bit inaccurate," Mills reflected.
"It took us a while to figure out the best way moving forward."
At half time, and narrowly trailing, Mills addressed his side on a couple of areas he wanted them to improve on.
"We had to fix up a few things around stoppage and just if we were going forward, making sure we were set up behind the ball so they couldn't sling shot us and get the ball out back quickly," Mills shared.
Mills was impressed by the work of his men in the middle, namely Brody Griffin and Naish McRoberts, who, he said, didn't stop all day, yet played better as the game progressed.
"Their pressure was just good, so they were big in there," he said.
The co-coach was also impressed with the form of his fellow co-coach, Tom Williamson, who was the highest goal scorer for the match.
"He played a bit of a different role, too," admitted Mills.
"He played a lot more midfield and probably stopped forward out of the back of his midfield work, so he had a great game.
"While he's usually 50/50 forward/midfield, more of his goals came from when he was playing midfield on Saturday."
Mills is waiting to gauge how his side is feeling before planning the training schedule for this week, adding that if his boys are a bit sore, it will be an easier training session before the regular session on Thursday.
