Indigenous round 2024
Willunga went into their home game against the Mudlarks with one of their stronger sides for the season. It was an important game for the club which celebrated Brad Haskett’s 300th game. Luckily, the forecast bad weather did not eventuate and the match was played under patchy blue skies.
The visitors won the toss and kicked with a two-goal breeze. Within the first ten minutes they rattled on three goals and it looked like they would dominate the game. Wilkins kicked the first when he snapped a classy goal around his body then Shillabeer boomed one home from the 50-metre arc. Heinze read a ball off-hands and converted before Willunga steadied. Mills and Messenger defended stoutly and although the Demons failed to score in the remaining 15-minutes of the quarter, their tackling and pressure stopped Myponga from scoring. Ogilvie was almost impassible at full back for the visitors and out-marked or spoiled taller opponents.
Myponga started the second quarter well against the wind. Kempster and Proude missed but Wilkins converted his opportunity to extend the quarter time lead. It took Willunga until the 7-minute mark of the second quarter to kick their opening goal of the game. Sam Renney read a ball off-hands and kicked long to the ever-dangerous Sherry who marked and converted. From the resulting centre-square bounce, Logan forced the ball forward to Beath who was freed and goaled from 30-metres. The Demons made it three-in-a-row when they produced one of the plays of the day. Sam Renney ran through centre-halfback, delivered to Renfrey who turned and kicked to Bass then onto to Haskett who unselfishly handballed to the fast-running Hams: he converted from the goal-square. Cock, Cooper, Sampson, Whitford and Wilkins worked hard for the visitors but the Willunga smalls, led by the fearless Altus, were able to out-manoeuvre the Myponga talls. A Messenger spoil forced the ball to ground where Beath was hit high then awarded a 25-metre penalty: he goaled to bring Willunga within a point at the long break.
The third quarter has too often been Willunga’s downfall this season but they dug deep against the wind and went into the three-quarter time break only 10-points down. Myponga’s Shillabeer won a free kick and got the visitors off to a good start in the premiership quarter. Heinze should have bagged another when he intercepted a Willunga kick – but he missed. Willunga rebounded from the mistake. Miegel won a hard ball and delivered to Sherry who kicked accurately. Butcher marked strongly but failed to convert from 20-metres and again the Demons made them pay. Colwell, Hams and Bekkers combined to deliver the ball to Sherry on the lead. He marked and goaled. Late in the quarter the Mudlarks bounced home two critical goals. The first was a result of hard running and good teamwork. Spinks took the ball off-hands and dribbled it home. The second one was luck – Sampson ran from defence and kicked long into the forward lines. The ball went over the pack and bounced several times before crossing the line to give Myponga a handy lead at three-quarter time.
Willunga got off to a flyer in the final quarter after a rare Mudlark’s defensive error. Haskett intercepted and goaled then from the centre bounce he marked a long kick: his shot at goal from an angle narrowly missed. Kennedy and Daniell found plenty of the ball for their respective sides but it took some Colwell magic to create Willunga’s next goal. He side-stepped an opponent, looked up and found Bass with a well-weighted kick. Bass played on and kicked accurately. The margin was 3-points, Butcher marked strongly but again failed to goal then Kelly was awarded a free kick for an alleged throw in front of the Myponga coach’s box. He went back from 55-metres and kicked a long goal. Spinks kicked another after finding space close to goal then Colwell got one back for Willunga. He ran from halfback, delivered the ball to the wing and kept running. His hard work was rewarded when he received a handball which he slotted home on the run. It was the last score of a highly competitive game which saw 3rd-placed Myponga run out 8-point winners over 8th-placed Willunga.
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