The Bats’ seniors came up against a Moyhu outfit intent on bouncing back after a drubbing at the hands of the All Blacks in the season opener.
Bats co-coach Jared Brennan said early misconceptions almost cost his side in the opening stages of the game.
“We probably took into account the previous weeks’ results, I think if we’d come with the effort that we came with in round one, we would’ve been in a better position,” Brennan said.
“Credit to Moyhu, they were a lot more physical around the footy, they probably came with the mentality that they’ve got nothing to lose coming off a fairly big defeat.”
A tight contest from start to finish, there was little to separate the sides throughout the match with Moyhu forcing turnovers to leave the Bats unable to win any clean ball.
“We probably weren’t switched on from the get-go and it probably wasn’t until three quarter-time the boys decided we needed to be a bit harder around the footy,” Brennan said.
“We changed it up at half-time and put a couple of different blokes through the middle and we started to win a bit of the footy.”
Rotations through the middle of the park has benefited the Bats, Brennan said, with a number of players capitalising on opportunities in different areas of the field.
“We had a mid rotation in round one that saw three blokes rotating through there and rotating forward; I think out of those three blokes we ended up with eight or nine goals,” he said.
“Toby Feehan slotted a few goals in round one and then played more of a supporting role the second week for Dylan (Beavis), who only kicked one goal in round one, but the way he led up and the way he presented and created space for the other forwards — he played really well.”
Brennan’s co-coach, Sam Gladstone, was again effective across half-back — the Bats’ stalwart holding the fort down back.
“He started on the wing but I threw him back late in the game to steady the ship a little bit,” Brennan said.
“First two week’s I think he’s been exceptional, he steadies us up, he’s got that footy smarts and knows when he needs to sit behind the footy or get in front of it.”
Vice captain Dylan Beavis collected a game-high four majors, while best on ground Jack Spinks finished on three to see their side come away with a narrow win.
Goorambat’s reserves aslo collected points, albeit in different fashion, producing a dominant 65-26 win over Moyhu.
The win is the first for Sean McDonald’s men since 2019.
The Bats corrected a sluggish start in the second half, working their way into the game to put pile on four goals in the fourth quarter to see the margin widen to 39 points.
The A-grade netballers flexed their muscle yet again with a convincing round two triumph to continue their perfect start to the season.
An eight-point lead in the first quarter had the Bats on the front foot early, before Chelsea Beavis, Kylie Relf and Jacinta Beavis put their side firmly in the drivers seat with some clinical shooting to see them up by 16 at the half.
Alexandra Davies, Sarah Osborne and Amelia Gall showed plenty of speed through the mid-court to help create important turnovers throughout the game.
Davies’ efforts along the wing saw her take out best on ground, her side clinching a 27-point victory.
Both the Bats’ B-grade and B-reserve netballers secured wins, while under-15 players Molly Martin, Lacey Carter, Teliha Yates, Sophie Hammond and Poppy Broomhall put in superb performances in their Moyhu match.
- Benalla All Blacks had a round two bye, and will return to action this weekend against North Wangaratta.
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