Giant upset as Swampies sink

From the Eastern Riverina Chronicle

• Rand Walbundrie Walla V Henty

RAND Walbundrie Walla Giants caused one of Hume Football League biggest finals shocks in recent times when it defeated Henty at Walbundrie on Saturday.

The Giants were outstanding over four quarters to defeat the highly-rated Swampies by 42 points to see them progress into next Sunday’s elimination final.

Leading by just nine points at half-time the Giants dominated the at times fiery second half to boot seven goals to two.

Outstanding youngster Ryan Lavery was awarded best on ground with a brilliant display in the midfield that included two valuable goals.

Henty who went into the match missing leading goal kicker James Breen with a broken leg, had no answer to the Giants desire and ferocity at the ball.

Experienced forwards Todd Miller and Myles Aalbers kicked four goals each to play a huge role in the upset victory.

Henty had plenty of opportunities in the first half, but apart from Heath Ohlin, Andrew Yates and Josh Gaynor they lacked winners all over the ground.

Henty’s Shannon Terlich was yellow carded late in the third term and accepted the set penalty post-match and will miss the start of the 2018 season.

In a season that promised so much the Swampies unfortunately saved its worst performance for its most important day of the season.

The win capped off a meteoric rise by the newly merged entity with the club not forming until only weeks before the 2016 season.

The Giants will now take on Culcairn in this Sunday’s elimination final with the winner progressing to the preliminary final.

• Culcairn v Brock Burrum

CULCAIRN has ended a seven year finals’ victory drought by toppling defending premiers Brock Burrum at Walbundrie on Sunday by 12 points.

Following on from the Giants huge upset over Henty the previous day, the Lions were magnificent and soaked up huge last term pressure.

The Lions held on grimly in the last quarter to eliminate the Saints who were coming home with the advantage of a strong breeze in the final term.

Brock Burrum kicked 1-6 in the final term to the Lions single behind as Culcairn got players behind the ball and defended superbly.

Finals specialist peter Cook made a timely return for Culcairn to boot four goals, while the dangerous John Robbins kicked three.

Jed Andrew also returned from a long layoff to compensate for the loss of Dane Hallinan who was suspended for four weeks midweek by the tribunal.

Hallinan brother Tim stood up to be best on ground with Tim Haines, Jye Shields and ruckman Ian McGillivray also in great touch.

Culcairn won the game with its efficiency using the breeze kicking eleven of its 12 goals at the northern end. The Saints kicked a wasteful 4-12 with the breeze and 5-5 against it.

Nick Sedgwick was outstanding for the Saints, while star forward Justin Koschitzke was held to just two goals by Lions defender Lachlan Stoll.

The loss finished an incredibly dominant period for the Saints who have won three of the last four Hume premierships.

Culcairn’s win was its first in a final since it defeated the Saints in the 2010 preliminary final.

They went on to lose the grand final to Howlong the next week.

For the first time since the inception of the final six, the number five and six ranked teams have eliminated three and four ranked.

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The second semi-final next week on Saturday will feature Osborne and Jindera, while RWW Giants will tackle Culcairn on Sunday’s elimination final.

The second’s elimination finals resulted in big wins for Osborne over Lockhart by 40 points and Brock Burrum belted the Giants by 71 points.

In under 17s results it was a decisive 70-point win by Holbrook over Giants and Lockhart scored a thrilling seven-point win over Henty.

The fourths continued a good weekend for Holbrook when they eclipsed CDHBU by 69 points. Jindera also impressed in its 24-point win over the Giants.

WEEK TWO FINALS DRAW

Seniors

• 2nd semi: Osborne v Jindera (Saturday)
• 1st semi: Culcairn v Rand Walbundrie Walla (Sunday)

Reserves

• Jindera v Henty (Saturday)
• Osborne v Brock Burrum (Sunday)

Under 17

• Osborne v Brock Burrum (Saturday)
• Holbrook v Lockhart (Sunday)

Under 14

• Osborne v Henty (Saturday)
• Holbrook v Jindera (Sunday)