Tough day for All Blacks as siblings make milestones

While Jake played his 150th game for the club when he ran out at 2pm against Tarrawingee, Alara got on court at 2.30pm for her 250th A-grade game, a club record for the All Blacks.

Both top sides were unable to rise to the occasions as Tarrawingee came away with wins in the seniors football and netball.

Senior football

On Saturday the All Blacks celebrated a milestone for star ruckman Jake Jones. Jake played in his 150th game for the club, he has been a true standout for the All Blacks this year and has been playing fantastic football.

All Blacks took on Tarrawingee and came out hot, dominating possession of the ball and looked to be in control.

Inaccuracy in front of goal did not allow the All Blacks to put scoreboard pressure on the opposition, kicking six behinds before they finally managed to kick a goal.

Late in the first the Panthers also lost key defender Jordan Smith to a dislocated ankle leaving them a rotation down early.

It was a back and forth game as both sides competed hard as the lead changed multiple times.

Jesse Walker continued to show improvements to his game in the backline.

For the past few weeks Jesse has taken on the oppositions’ most dangerous forwards and has done a great job under pressure.

The third quarter was the most entertaining period of the game as the visitors got two quick goals in the middle of the quarter as they looked like they might pull away on the scoreboard.

As was the nature of the game Benalla responded with two quick goals of its own as captain Chelton Orchard ‘soccered’ one home and Damian Broughton finished off a set shot.

Straight from the restart Tarrawingee got the ball into its forward 50 and William Saritschniy kicked a goal from out to the right.

The All Blacks responded straight away as the ball was sent down to Dean Bradshaw who kicked the goal as the quarter ended with less than a goal between the sides.

The All Blacks fought right to the end of the game led by Chelton Orchard.

The captain’s attack on the ball was second to none for the Panthers and he created scoring opportunities out of thin air for the All Blacks.

The All Blacks came up just short for the second week in a row. They now have two weeks off to put in some hard yards on the track to improve their game.

A-grade netball

In yet another huge milestone game for co-coach Alara Jones played her 250th A-grade game on Saturday, setting a Benalla All Blacks club record.

Alara has been playing for the All Blacks since 2005 when they first became affiliated with the Ovens and King League.

“It’s not too bad,” said Alara when questioned on how she feels about making a club record appearance.

“Eighteen years this year (playing for the club), 17th season with COVID.

“It was a really good game today, the Tarra girls are always good to play against, our guys fought hard.”

The All Blacks took on a well-oiled Tarrawingee team and the girls knew it was going to be a tough fight.

There was history thrown into the mix as well as the All Blacks played Tarra for the first time since losing to the side in last year’s first round of finals.

With a slow start in the first quarter resulting in 6-19 scoreline in favour of Tarrawingee at the the end of the first term, the girls adapted well to the fast pace and well-precision game of the Tarra unit.

An extremely strong second half display from the Panthers with multiple turnovers was subsequently rewarded in the goal circle.

There was a huge show of determination, persistence and fight shown from the A-grade side on Saturday, making the remaining of the season something to look forward to.

The All Blacks fell short with the final scores: 40-63.

Gertie McCallum starred again this week, running out the centre position for a solid four quarters, with her quick feet and phenomenal work ethic, implementing everything asked of her and proving that she is definitely a young star to keep watching.

There was a change of pace this week for defender Elyse Felstead being thrown into the wing attack role but she did not look a beat out of place.

Quick reactions off the line for the centre passes and accurate feeding into the shooters was exactly what the team needed.

Eliza Walker had a stellar game in goal keeper where she was matched up on Kaylee Allen, one of the top shooters of the O&K league.

She expertly put into play defensive strategies that the All Blacks had worked on throughout trainings.

Despite the loss, the team seemed in good spirits.

“Get in Georgia,” Alara chirped over her shoulder to co-coach Georgia Spencer when asked who she thought was the standout player on the day.

“I don’t know about 250 more (games), we’ll just take it one year at a time.”

Awards:

Reserves football

Coming off a comprehensive win against Goorambat, the All Blacks reserves were challenged to keep building on their game and to continue to work as a team.

Taking on Tarrawingee at home, Benalla was pumped to get another win on the board in front of a home crowd.

The All Blacks were urged to start well and put pressure on the opposition which they did, kicking five goals to one in the first.

The Panthers midfield was slow to get started, but with a solid defence the boys were able to constantly rebound out of their defensive 50 and transition well into forward 50.

The boys up forward, led by the experience of Harry Morgan, were able to kick straight and go in at quarter-time with a 22-point lead.

The midfield were challenged to win more centre clearances and get the ball in quickly to our dangerous forwards and continue to apply scoreboard pressure.

The defenders were set a challenge to maintain their attack on the footy, which they did very well in the second quarter, keeping Tarra to just one behind.

The Panthers went in at half-time 49 points up.

At half-time the reserves were again challenged by the coach to ensure they mentally stayed in the game and to really put the foot down with their pressure.

With the chance to be four wins and four losses at the end of the game Benalla took on the challenge and produced the best team performance of the year as the side defended well, won clearances and controlled the transition and kicking straight.

Kicking nine goals three behinds to just one goal, the team had a 100-point lead at the final break.

Benalla was asked to run out the game and not let the scoreboard dictate how it played out the last quarter.

Tarrawingee had the same mindset and applied good pressure on the Panthers.

With the defenders holding up well and backing themselves to win the ball, the All Blacks were able to kick three goals and two behinds to Tarra’s one goal and three behinds to finally run out 111-point winners.

Harry Moran was a standout all day kicking nine goals and assisted in many others.

Tony Wilkenson kicked four goals in his best performance for the year.

With a two-week break Benalla is now challenged to put in some hard work over the break in preparation to play Milawa and gain another spot on the ladder.

Best players:

1. Brad Milligan/Sherridan Homes award: Harry Moran

2. Royal Hotel award: Dylan Norman

3. All Blacks Thursday night dinner: Dylan Bell

4. Benalla Golf Club: John Hughes

5. Anthony Wilkinson

6. Joshua Kotvas

B-grade netball

Benalla’s B-grade players trained well with a focus on defensive pressure coming into this week’s game against Tarrawingee.

The game started out as a tight contest. Both teams had good pressure across the court.

Benalla was able to win turnovers but struggled to convert these into goals. On the other hand, Tarra’s shooters were very accurate with their chances.

Benalla edged out to a three-goal lead at the first break.

The All Blacks continued to work hard through consistent pressure led by Kellie Holmes in the mid-court and outstanding work rate and intercepts by Gemma Mathieson.

The team also made the most of all opportunities to score through considered passing and patience across the court.

Tarra continued to pressure Benalla’s shooters who worked hard to overcome this, extending the lead out to 19 goals at three-quarter-time.

New recruits to the Panthers B-grade team in Andrea Hooker and Lis O’Halloran continued to work tirelessly at both ends of the court all game and lifted the team in the last quarter to run out winners 58 to 34.

Awards:

B-reserve netball

Benalla had a slow start up against Tarra, with both teams finishing the first quarter 8-8.

Movement with Mel Reaper into goal attack was pivotal in increasing our strength in attack. Mel created space and moves in the ring beautifully.

Holly Robertson came on into wing attack and Erin Crook in centre also added another layer of strength in attack as they played their roles well.

Renae Hughes came back for her first game after injury and read the play well to force errors and getting intercepts as Chloe Dods played an outstanding game in wing defence, with incredible defensive pressure and beautiful leading and offering for the attackers.

Each quarter saw Benalla take a further lead against Tarra, resulting in a 49-23 win.

Awards:

Under-17s netball

Third place under-17 Panthers welcomed sixth-placed Tarrawingee at home this week.

Knowing it was going to be a tough one, Benalla took no chances and came out working hard both in attack and defence.

Tarra in return came out strong with both teams finishing the first quarter on seven each.

The Panthers were told to slow down and make sure of their passes going into the second and third quarters.

A change of shooters provided fresh legs each quarter resulting in great movement of the ball down the court and into the ring by the mid-court alongside solid defence that created turnovers and continued to make it hard for Tarrawingee.

The girls continued to grow their lead each quarter and with all four shooters showing their accuracy throughout the game Panthers took out the win 38 to 28.

Awards:

Under-15s

Under-15s Panthers side welcomed Tarrawingee this week before a two-week break.

The All Blacks defensive end as usual worked overtime with pressure and many turnovers.

Benalla’s centre court created some great passages of play with consisting leading and defensive pressure and chasing down many loose balls.

The attacking end once again worked well together for Benalla, constantly re-leading and feeding the shooters with great passes.

The shooters made sure the All Blacks’ passages of play throughout the court was rewarded with some accurate shooting.

It was a great team effort once again, which resulted with the Panthers wining 21-7. The win takes them to sixth place on the ladder.

Awards: