Mater Dei responds against Wagga High; TRAC overcomes Kooringal challenge

Drum was sensational down back for Mater Dei and he was arguably best on ground as MDCC ran out comfortable 9.4 (58) to 1.9 (15) victors.

Mater Dei were disappointing last week against Kildare Catholic College and their coach Nathan Irvine was pleased his side could respond strongly against Wagga High.

"We were pretty nervous about playing Wagga High, because they were so good against TRAC," Irvine said.

"We knew that if we didn't turn up tonight then we could be two and done, so the boys played really well."

Mater Dei were on top early and they went into quarter time up by 16 points following a pair of goals to Harrison Wheeler and one through Oscar Gianniotis.

Wheeler then had his third early in the second term before Wagga High kicked their lone goal of the night through Crawford Wadley.

Mater Dei were 20 points up at halftime and that margin was out to 28 at three-quarter-time following a goal to Campbell Brown in the third term.

They then kicked three goals in the last term to run out comfortable 43 point winners which puts their campaign back on track.

With the competition so close this year, Irvine agreed it was important to get the win to keep their finals chances alive.

"If you lose two you rely on everyone else's results and you can't do that," he said.

"Now we give ourselves a chance and worry about Kooringal next week, we'll see where we are after that."

Mater Dei looked a completely different side to the one that lost to Kildare last Wednesday and Irvine thought there were a number of areas his side made massive improvements in.

"I think our back line played incredibly well," he said.

"Ethan Drum was a standout down there and we knew we had to shutdown Crawford Wadley and Charlie Schneider from fullback was good as well.

"We probably hit our targets a bit better and maybe there was a bit more space than there was against Kildare and maybe not as much footy going in as quickly into our back line."

Drum and Schneider weren't the only ones to impress Irvine as he noted the efforts of a couple of their better players.

"The work rate of guys like Harvey Brown and Jazzey Wallett and our forwards," he said.

"I don't think our forwards worked hard enough last week to present and give our players something to kick to.

"Our forward unit obviously worked a lot better tonight."

Full Time

MDCC 3.0 5.0 6.3 9.4 (58)

WWHS 0.2 1.4 1.5 1.9 (15)

GOALS: MDCC: H Wheeler 4, O Gianniotis, C Schneider, C Brown, H Brown, R McGill; WWHS: C Wadley

BEST: MDCC: E Drum, C Schneider, H Wheeler, B Edmunds, H Brown, J Wallett; WWHS: A Wolter, C Walker, L Moore, J Little, C Morphett, R Kemp

A dominant final quarter guided The Riverina Anglican College (TRAC) to a comfortable 64-point win over Kooringal High School.

After leading by only four goals at three-quarter-time, TRAC ran away in the final term booting six unanswered goals on their way to a 13.11 (89) to 3.7 (25) victory.

Nate Hamblin and Henry Angel were both impressive in the victory and they finished with three goals apiece.

TRAC were disappointing last Wednesday in their loss to Wagga High and their coach Mick Glanvill was pleased his side could overcome the significant challenge put to them from Kooringal.

"They played well tonight," Glanvill said.

"They came with the right attitude, we spoke before the game about just having the right attitude and playing with good effort and they did that.

"I was pleased for them to come away with the win."

Kooringal had the perfect start to the game with a goal in the opening minute to Alex Weightman, however TRAC then kicked the next three to head into quarter-time with a two-goal lead.

Back-to-back goals to Hamish Comtesse early in the second saw Kooringal draw level, before TRAC then skipped away to take a 20-point lead into halftime.

Angel kicked the sole goal of an even third term before TRAC put the foot down late to run away comfortable victors.

Glanvill found it hard to single out any individual standout performers, however he did credit the efforts of some of their better players.

"I thought it was a pretty good team effort," he said.

"But some of our leaders in Nate Hamblin, Jack Rudd and Otis Irvin early set the standard.

"Then I thought Henry Angel had a really good second half and Sam Drew in the ruck was good.

"I thought the whole back line played well and Sid Lenton through the midfield was pretty strong as well.

"But I was pretty pleased with the back line, I thought they were pretty solid all night."

Although TRAC eventually won by over 10 goals, Glanvill agreed that Kooringal definitely put up quite the fight for the first three quarters.

"Yeah I thought they played really well," he said.

"They've got some good players and I said to the boys at three-quarter-time that there was nothing in the game in general play.

"We were just in front by a few goals probably because we took our opportunities, but in the last quarter the boys really ran away with it which was good.

"But Kooringal played really well."

Full Time

TRAC 3.2 6.5 7.7 13.11 (89)

KHS 1.2 3.3 3.7 3.7 (25)

GOALS: TRAC: N Hamblin 3, H Angel 3, H Byrnes 2, J Rudd 2, O Irvin, B Browning, G Ruwald; KHS: H Comtesse 2, A Weightman

BEST: TRAC: N Hamblin, J Rudd, H Angel, O Irvin, G Ruwald, S Lenton; KHS: L Roberts, A Weightman, M Willis, B Price, C Schwartz, D Waugh-Smith