Football
8 July, 2025
Stawell move a game clear of Minyip Murtoa
Stawell put some breathing space between Minyip Murtoa and them after claiming their hit out by 23 points in Round 11 of the Wimmera Football Netball League.
The Burras were down by five points at the end of the first quarter, but had a better quarter two, to lead by a couple of points at halftime.
But it was the Warriors' way in the quarter three, as they outscored their opposition five goals and five points to a goal.
The Burra's managed a couple of majors in the last quarter, to the Warriors' one goal, two, it was both too late, and too little, as Stawell banked the win 7.5 47 to 10.10 70, depsite the winners having no bench in the final term.
Oscar Gawith and Timothy McIntyre were the only multiple goal scorers for the Burras, with a couple of majors each, while Jack Sapuppo and Tanner Smith were the better players in the side.
Cody Driscoll was the go-to in the forward line for the Warriors, booting eight of his side's 10 goals, in his best on ground performance, while Jarrod Illig was also acknowledged for his efforts in the match.
James Sullivan, coach of Stawell, said after the game, it was a battle of two halves, with the breeze strong.
"But we've done a lot of work on that, and what we look like in each quarter," said Sullivan.
"And to the boys' credit, they really, they did it well," he said, adding the side stuck to their structure and he was impressed by their final half after a disappointing first couple of quarters.
Up by more than four goals heading into the final quarter, Sullivan said his message to his players was to hold it together.
"Coming in at that last quarter huddle it was really like, don't lose your heads," he said.
"We we had some structures that we wanted to do, and there was a few areas in that second quarter that we weren't happy with against the breeze, so we knew we're going to tighten up on that in the last quarter.
"We just spoke about that at three-quarter time; a few of the things we want to do a bit differently (and I was) super happy the last quarter."