On a pretty warm day for football and in front of a bumper crowd for the Back to Ramland reunion, Mulwala showed too much class for the hardworking Rams outfit.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
There was only one goal difference at quarter time Mulwala’s way, but they added five goals in the second quarter.
Deni could only manage four behinds, giving them a nice buffer heading into the second half.
The third quarter was a pretty even battle between the two sides, but Mulwala picked up again in the last quarter, adding five goals.
We had plenty of opportunities but didn’t convert, and they hurt us the other way.
Cable Fitzpatrick was fantastic down back and has been consistent all season.
Brayden Hall and Angus Durnan battled resiliently through the ruck.
Sam Lloyd was the shining light through the midfield, kicking four goals.
Jake Hobbs worked tirelessly all day, also kicking one goal.
With a few injuries to sour the day, it’s pleasing to have many players playing well in the reserves who are more than capable of playing good senior footy.
Final score: Deni Rams 6.11 (47) def by Mulwala 15.7 (97).
Awards: Cable Fitzpatrick, Gus Durnan, Jake Hobbs, Brayden Hall, Sam Lloyd and Mick Barnett.
Reserves:
It was a beautiful day for footy at Hardinge St for a top-of-the-table clash with Mulwala.
We’ve asked the boys for fast starts all year, and this week, they came in at quarter-time with a three-goal lead.
Their run over the considerable ground also suited our younger boys and a couple of the older boys shot out to our backline, who are starting to gel as a group.
They held well against some smart forwards from Mulwala as we piled on the goals in the second quarter with the 36-point lead.
As we told them at half-time, the job is not done yet.
If you give other teams a sniff, they will take it, so we needed to shut them out in the third.
The team did that and enjoyed the final quarter.
It is a really good start to the year, however there is still a long way to go.
Final score: Deni Rams 10.9 (69) def Mulwala 2.2 (14).
Awards: Liam Pitts, James Bradford, Noah Bradley, Clay Howe and Jack Hay.
Thirds:
The thirds were hosting the benchmark side of this season so far.
The visitors jumped out to a five-goal lead at quarter time and stretched that to 62 points at the long break.
The Mulwala side showed why they’ll be one of the sides to beat this year with a ruthless second half to run away big winners.
The pleasing takeaway from the match was the Rams kept taking the game on when they had opportunities and, at times, had some good passages of play.
The younger and undersized Rams maintained their effort throughout the match but couldn’t capitalise when needed.
They will learn a lot from the match and will be looking to take that into next week at home again against Rumbalara.
Final score: Deni Rams: 0.0 (0) def by Mulwala 18.16 (124).
Awards: Jake Herberte, Nash Suckling, Ted Wren, Charlie McCallum and Chase Bartlett.
Fourths:
The Deni Rams knew they had another tough match ahead when they were to take on Mulwala.
The under-14s went out hard and applied pressure at every contest to be rewarded in the first quarter, keeping Mulwala scoreless.
Mulwala found their rhythm and quickly started scoring in the second quarter, which continued throughout the remainder of the match.
They proved to be too strong for the young Rams team.
Final score: Deni Rams 0.2 (2) def by Mulwala 7.8 (50).
Awards: James Gatacre, Tynen Rothe, Savannah Emery, Will Armytage and Darcy Finn.
Under-10s:
The Rams played their third game for the season against home side Echuca Bombers under lights on Friday night.
With assistant Mick ‘Sheedy’ Farley stepping up in the absence of head coach Jack Eastman, there was an air of anticipation pre-match.
But a stirring speech from the interim coach had the boys up and about in the first quarter, with Ned Campbell sparking the young Rams into action.
Despite the chilly weather, our boys tackled well and showed good foot skills to lead from start to finish.
Nate Fitzpatrick, Oli Hall, Ned Hussey, Jackson Catt, Jed Fitzmaurice, Leroy Fisicaro, and Edward Bliss all found the goals.
Final score: Not scored.
Edward Bliss was named best on the ground to collect the That Pizza award, while the other award winners were Ned Campbell (club hat), Oli Hall (Macca’s), and left footer Harrison Leetham (Cruzin* Diner), who showed lots of dash out of defence.
Contributed content