GVL | Gallery | Ovens and Murray claim Ash-Wilson trophy with dominant interleague win over GVL

Highlighted by a dominant display from Wangaratta’s Joe Richards through the midfield and five goals from Leigh Williams up forward, the boys in gold and black got contributions from all over the park, with the GVL simply unable to stop its class and speed.

GVL interleague coach Paul Newman said his team was simply outclassed by a much stronger O&M.

“They (O&M) were just excellent. They had some smooth movers all over the ground and speed on the ball we just weren’t able to contain,” Newman said.

“They also had a couple of imposing forwards that put us under pressure, but I thought up until the last 10-15 minutes we were fighting hard and stayed in the game.

“At the end of the day they had a bit more class and were stronger for longer.”

In what many describe as one of the fiercest rivalries in country football, it was a hot start to proceedings, with GVL dominating the opening minutes and kicking the first goal courtesy of Brad Ryan.

But once the O&M boys settled into the contest they began to flex their muscles, reeling off four answered goals in the shadows of the first change to lead by 18 points.

Carrying all the momentum, O&M continued its dominance into the second term, adding another two majors to have the home side at risk of being blown away.

But to the GVL’s credit, it managed to get the game back on its terms late in the second, with crucial majors to Zac Keogh and Steven Stroobants leaving the margin at 20 points at half-time.

Needing to come out of the rooms firing, the GVL kicked the first of the second half to have the margin trimmed to 14 points.

But in what turned out to be the tale of the day, whenever it looked like the home side could catapult itself into the lead, the O&M hit back hard, as Williams and Jacob Conlan got on top up forward to get the lead north of 40 points.

In desperate need of a spark, Newman threw swing man Lachie Smith from defence into attack and reaped instant rewards, with the Kyabram star kicking four second-half goals to keep his team in the hunt heading into the final term.

“It wasn’t the first time we have been able to swing Lachie forward at club level and get the job done, so to see him have an impact up in attack was very pleasing,” Newman said of the mid-game switch.

“It was probably a case of us lacking that big figure up forward to take a mark or bring the ball to ground, and I thought he did a great job.”

While Smith’s exploits kept the home side believing, weight of numbers would eventually win out in the final quarter, as O&M kicked away again to claim a substantial 55-point win.

For the home side, Kyabram duo Keogh and Smith were the standouts, while Mansfield’s Patty Marks, Echuca’s Ben Reid and Mooroopna’s Chris Nield also impressed in the loss.

Newman said it was fantastic to see interleague football return, despite a disappointing crowd.

“I thought it was really good. It would have been nice to see a few more people here, but it is probably one of those things that might take a bit of time to gather some steam,” he said.

“Today was a great starting point though. The boys are competitors and I thought they really cracked in, had a go and represented the jumper with pride.”