Finals bound Magpies put Albury to the sword

Wangaratta have primed themselves for finals footy following a mauling of Albury at the Wangaratta Showgrounds on Saturday. The Magpies' senior footballers quashed any miraculous chance of missing the top five with the win and will face North Albury in a sudden death elimination final at Martin Park next Sunday. Wangaratta were led by captain Jackson Clarke, who was enormous up forward kicking six goals while also having his usual impact in the midfield in the 17.11 (113) to 4.10 (34) result. The ‘Pies have been trialing a number of options as their number two key forward with Xavier Laverty since last year’s best and fairest winner Aidan Tilley underwent foot surgery halfway through the year. Coach Jason Heatley said while Clarke provided the answer in Saturday’s win, his team would continue to mix up their forward makeup to provide versatility and unpredictability throughout finals. “We had nine goal kickers on the weekend and for us that’s more important than anything else,” he said. “What that does it gives you more looks and more opportunity for someone to get off the chain and it was Jackson’s turn on Saturday. “It’s been a real collective, Matt Hedin competed well and got the ball to ground and that gives your small guys an opportunity to cease.” As they had done last week, the Magpies were clinical early and put a five-goal gap on the visiting Tigers at quarter-time. Albury were held to just the single goal at the main break as Wangaratta put the game away by half-time, piling further pain on Albury’s finish to the season. “Starting well in this competition means a lot,” Heatley said. “Once we got that ascendency on the scoreboard we were able to maintain and fundamentally play the game on our terms which was nice.” Usual suspects Chris Knowles, Alex Federico, Dan Sharrock and Cam Barrett racked up the footy while young Jett Roberts was also among Wangaratta’s best. Laverty’s consistent season continued adding another four goals to his season tally, having kicked at least one in each game of his second full season of senior footy. The team had been crucified by injuries throughout the middle part of the year, but Heatley said some of the team’s senior stars were hitting form at the right time. “Guys like [Hunter] Gottschling, Sharrock, [Brad] Melville are building momentum and that’s the important piece for us,” he said. Michael Bordingnon and Nick Richards were left out for another week, with Heatley confident of their availability for Wangaratta’s crunch Sunday final. “Bords was filthy not to be playing, he got through training but our medical staff thought it was the right decision to leave him out,” Heatley said. Heatley said Tilley would be back on the training track this week for the first time since his round nine injury. Elsewhere, Wangaratta Rovers will enter finals on a seven-game winning streak after making light work of Wodonga at Martin Park, The defending premiers turned on the heat in the opening quarter to lead by 29 points at the first break and never looked back, winning 17.12 (114) to 7.6 (48) to finish top of the ladder in the home and away season. Alex McCarthy was best on ground playing on the wing, while key forwards Tom Boyd, Will Christie and Nathan Cooper combined for 12 goals between them. Xavier Allison, Jez Rigoni and Noah Scholte were also exceptional for the visitors, who earned themselves a week off after claiming the minor premiership. Other finalists will include Lavington and Myrtleford, who secured the double chance after a gripping one-point win over North Albury. Heatley said his team were looking forward to being a part of what’s expected to be a thrilling finals series. “I think if you look at results throughout the course of the year, the top five have been very competitive against each other, with Rovers the standout,” he said. “Sneaking through in fifth, it’s going to be hard fought battles on a weekly basis for us now.” The Ovens and Murray FNL released their full finals venues with Wangaratta potentially playing host to both semi-final games on 6 and 7 September. While the Norm Minns Oval was locked in to host the Saturday game, the semi-final on Sunday could be played at either Albury Sportsground or WJ Findlay Oval, depending on results from the first week of finals.

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