Mulwala’s reserves came out of the blocks early, eager to get the jump on Deni who have been the most impressive team of the year.
Early goals to Sean Robinson and Matt McLachlan who had been in everything from the onset of play had Mulwala take a good enough lead into quarter time.
Deniliquin Rams 0.4, 1.4, 2.11, 4.12.36.
Mulwala 2.1, 4.4, 6.6, 6.9.45.
Goals: Deniliquin Rams: Clay Howe 1, Brett Macdonald 1, Ben Nisbet 1, Brock Redden 1.
Mulwala: Sean Robinson 2, Cameron Magher 1, Matthew McLachlan 1, Cameron Nye 1, Dylan Robinson 1.
Best: Deniliquin Rams: Jack Hay, Lachlan Osborne, Ben East, Clay Howe, Liam Pitts, Brett Macdonald.
Mulwala: Matthew McLachlan, Thomas Wilson, Austin Frauenfelder, Josh Ednie, Mitchell Appleby, Sean Robinson.
Austin Fraeunfelder continued his good patch of form throughout the match against the taller Deni ruckman and was able to get around the ground and compete as an extra mid that Mulwala needed.
Thomas Wilson was using all of his skills to counterattack the Deni advances through the middle of the ground and set up some easy goals for Mulwala in the second and third quarters.
Mulwala began to burst away from their opposition on the ground and scoreboard due also to some Deni inaccuracy in front of goal caused by the great pressure applied by the Mulwala backmen.
The last quarter was an arm wrestle as Deni fought back but the Mulwala boys held their nerve and were able to maintain their lead and book their spot into the Grand Final where they will be looking to go one better than last year and take home the 2024 Premiership cup.
Thirds
Mulwala 3.1, 5.3, 8.3, 12.5.77.
Barooga 2.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5.23.
Goals: Mulwala: Jai Sneddon 5, Baxter Donovan 3, Van Kreeck 2, Nash McNamara 2.
Barooga: Codi Bowden 1, Leo Quinane 1, Sonny Rowe 1.
Best: Mulwala: Brock Johnson, Jordan Ibbott, Jai Sneddon, Hunter Lonergan, Baxter Donovan, Levi Saunders.
Barooga: Codi Bowden, Jayden Geisler, Will Noonan, Taiten Rudd, Leo Quinane, Joel Jezewski.
The Thirds have booked a spot in the Preliminary Final on Saturday with a convincing victory against an eager Barooga team on Sunday, fresh from an unexpected win over Echuca the week before.
The team started strongly with the first 2 goals of the match to Jai Sneddon and Van Kreeck whose speed was electric and certainly going to be a concern for Barooga. Mulwala were winning their share of the ball through the middle of the ground thanks to the brilliant ruck work of Brock Johnson and the hard at the ball approach of Hunter Lonergan.
Throughout the match Mulwala’s backline was difficult to penetrate mostly due to the strong efforts of Jordan Ibbott and Charlie Drake who were proving equally as good in the air as on the ground.
As the game wore on, the Barooga boys became more frustrated and Mulwala stuck to the task at hand of winning the contested footy and moving the ball forward with speed which enabled the team to pile on the goals in the second half and run away with a fantastic win.
Fourths
Moama 0.3, 2.4, 3.4, 4.5.29.
Mulwala 1.2, 2.5, 3.6, 4.10.34.
Goals: Moama: Ollie Davidson 1, Hugh McDonald 1, Ben McRae 1, Harrison Sutton 1
Mulwala: Nate Leith 1, Levi Purtle 1, Alex Richardson 1, Axel Saunders.
Best: Moama: Jack Millar, Bodhi Kohn, Tyler Jardine, Tommy Dohnt, Ryan Mcrae, Lachlan Jeffreys.
Mulwala: Axel Saunders, Logan Cooper, Byron Dodd, Tyce Woodhead, Fletcher Woodhead, Hugo Varndell.
The young Lions have booked their spot in the Grand Final with a stirring come from behind win in the final minutes against Moama at Rumba on Saturday.
Captain Axel Saunders got the team the only goal of the first quarter after some strong running work through the middle of the ground and Mulwala had most of the play early in the game.
Both teams had come to play and as the game wore on the goals were back and forth as neither team could break away to a strong lead.
Mulwala had winners on every line as the Woodhead brothers Tyce and Fletcher were beating their opponents and the hard ball gets continue to rack up for young superstars Logan Cooper and Byron Dodd.
Hugo Varndell was playing the game of his life in the back half and thwarted many Moama attacks bursting from defense with speed and agility.
With the game in the balance, Moama up by a point and only minutes to go, the fresh legs of young Benji Watson in the forward line gathered a brilliant loose ball and found the junior boar Alex Richardson who covered himself in glory with the winning goal to put Mulwala in front and book the first spot in the 2024 Murray League Grand Finals.
Lionesses mixed bag
B Grade ~ 1st semi final
Moama 50 def Mulwala 43.
C Grade ~ 1st semi final
Mulwala 53 def Finley 34.
Up against the experienced team of Finley, a team always to be respected, the girls came in eager after last week’s tough battle against Echuca.
An injury to shooter Brooke Bigger early on, saw a quick re-shuffle of positions.
Yet again, the other 9 girls adapted to changes to challenge. Finley, to see them hold the lead before drawing away with the win. Full team effort – the girls do coach Shanny proud.
Under 15s ~ 2nd semi final
Moama 49 def Mulwala 46.
A shaky start saw the girls down by 14 at half time. They came out firing in the second half working together as a team with strong defensive pressure and great attack on the ball.
The goalers were accurate and they all back each other up.
Unfortunately, the girls went down by 3, but they will be back next week, strong and firing.