Blues bow out of finals

by Mitch Berechree
An injury-depleted Thorpdale bowed out of the 2026 finals series on Sunday with a loss to MDU in the second elimination final on Sunday at Willow Grove.
In front of an enthusiastic crowd who soaked up the perfect footy conditions, MDU overcame a 12-point three quarter time deficit to run out winners 11-14-80 to 10-13-73.
The two sides entered the clash with a win apiece against each other across the course of the season in what was a repeat of last year's second elimination final. There was a raft of individual match-ups to focus on at each end of the ground and just as many in the middle of the ground as the two sides made their way to their positions.
In the MDU front half Nick Nagel had Thorpdale's Cougar Millson for company while Pat Kerr had Jarrah Burgess sidle up behind him.
In the middle it appeared that Aaron Harris was tagging MDU's prime mover Jaymie Youle while Anthony Rosato and Shaye Walsh ran head-to-head working off the handy work of Gavan Low and Josh Schelling who went to go head-to-head virtually all day in an enthralling ruck battle.
In the Thorpy front half Jesse Patullo had Jarvis Lacy to contend with while Matthew Powell had Keiran Bohn keeping an eye on him.
Early doors it was all Thorpdale with the Blues registering the first four scoring shots. After a couple of rudimental misses, it was Jesse Patullo who snapped the first with a ripper across his body from forty out. And when Matt Powell, the man they call Moose, channelled his inner Peter Wilson, think Dennis Cometti and his famous "cork in the ocean" call, Thorpy were travelling nicely.
Enter the game's biggest influence Trent McRae. The MDU forward put on a four-quarter clinic on Sunday and started his big day out with a ripping contested mark and goal to get MDU ticking over. After a few false starts Nick Nagel slotted the first of his for the day and as the first quarter came to a close it was MDU who held a three-point lead.
Kieran Bohn, Tim Harris and Tom Kerr were in everything for MDU while for Thorpdale Mitch Gorman and Shannon Pickering stood out.
While Rhett Kelly, the MDU coach urged his players on Thorpy's main concern at quarter time was being down a key defender with Jacob Patullo assisted from the field and taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle.
Being down a player didn't seem to hinder the Blues early though as they went on a four goal to nil run. It was Powell again showing off his athleticism to get things underway with a terrific snap around the corner from a Pickering pass. Anthony Rosato then won a free and kicked truly before turning provider and setting up Aaron Harris for Thorpy's third of the quarter.
And when Rosato found Jeremiah Jones, surely one of the best named footballers in the competition, who goaled, Thorpy led by 22 points and were perhaps starting to think ahead to a clash with Fish Creek next week.
Alas Powell went down with a game ending ankle injury himself, leaving Thorpdale with just one rotation for the second half, and when he of the helmet –Brayden Selling- kicked a goal on the cusp of the long break MDU had some momentum going to the change and trailed by a manageable 15 points.
After just nine goals were kicked in the first half the game started to open up with eight goals booted in the third term alone. Shaun Fella kicked things off for Thorpy but his opening goal was offset by a Nick Nagel major for MDU. Nagel however went from hero to villain in an instant causing an easy shot on goal for McRae to become a Thorpdale free kick.
The subsequent forward foray saw Trav Pattern kick an amazing set shot from the boundary to give Thorpy a more than handy lead.
Naughty Nick then became Saint Nick when he kicked truly to right his earlier wrong. When this was followed up by a piece of excellent team play that saw Schelling find Tom Kerr who hit up McRae, who again kicked truly, the margin was a more than manageable 12 points at the last break.
Would the margin be enough for Thorpdale to hang on or would the lack of rotations and some late third quarter momentum see MDU progress?
With Nagel moved further up the park and getting his hands on the ball at will, McRae went to work closer to goal. And it was this combination that set up the first of MDU's five last quarter goals. McRae then went bang, bang to round out his day with five before handing the keys to the front half over to Shay Wilson.
The player fella in the flash boots helped himself to two majors and in the space of 15 minutes MDU had gone from behind to better than three goal leaders with only minutes to play.
To Thorpdale's credit they dug in and booted the last two through Jeremiah Jones and 200 gamer Heath Ferguson to get the margin back to seven points when the siren rang out to end not only the game but the Blues' season.
For the winners Trent McRae was outstanding. Jamie Youle was in everything as was Zac Carroll while Kieran Bohn and Tom Kerr acquitted themselves well in the back half.
For Thorpdale Mitch Gorman toiled hard all day as did Anthony Rosato. Shannon Pickering and Trav Pattern provided plenty as did Aaron Harris who I thought was their best for the day.
For the winners it is their second game against Fish Creek in a fortnight next Sunday at Newborough while for Thorpdale it's all about planning to get better again in season 2027.
Fish Creek vs Tarwin
After overcoming a slow start and a spirited Tarwin last quarter comeback Fish Creek got the win they needed to keep their season alive on Saturday at Mirboo North, running out winners 13-10-88 to 7-8-50.
Coming into the cut-throat final on the back of a surprise loss to MDU in round 18, Fish Creek made seven changes to their line-up. Tarwin made just two changes from their winning round 18 side, one of which was reversed on match day when Dylan Garnham pulled out.
Whilst the ladder had three positions and four wins between the sides across the course of the season, only seven points separated the two at the first break. Not that the first quarter was a great example of the skill and quality of both sides with what must have been close to a world record number of kicks going out of bounds on the full, including three shots on goal in a row by Fish Creek.
Tarwin's forward trio of Rem Dal Pozzo, Troy Harley and Toby Mahoney had Will Hetherington, Jack Hayes and Jarrod Walker for company. Given the three of them had managed north of 100 goals between them for the season, these battles would prove pivotal to the outcome.
After a raft of failed attempts on goal, it was Tarwin's Dal Pozzo who eventually broke through for the game's first major some 16 minutes in after he converted a strong one on one mark from around 25 meters out. This was countered by the first of six to Fishy's Charlie Wilson who snapped truly from 50 and when Wilson went back-to-back after an excellent mark and goal Fish Creek hit the quarter time break with a seven-point lead.
Fishy coach used ruckman Rhett Widemann as a seventh defender to start the second term and it immediately paid dividends with him repelling Tarwin's first forward foray and tuning defence into attack. As if having to outshine the brother it was Jackson Wiedemann who slotted the first of the second term which saw the momentum shift his sides way.
Blaine Coates was getting his hands on everything and if it were not for some inaccurate kicking, the Kangas may well have had a much greater lead at the long break than they did.
Tarwin refused to give up and with Ben Chalmers and Louis Armstrong coming to the fore, the Sharks rallied booting the last two of the half to get back in touch at the long break. Both came off the boot of Toby Mahoney and both were absolute rippers. With the margin now back to a manageable 19 points it was a question of whether Tarwin could negate Fishy kicking with the wind in the third term to give themselves a sniff of some last quarter heroics.
Alas Fishy snagged three for the term with Luke Williams, Jacko Wiedemann and, of course, Wilson all kicking truly. Wiedemann's in particular was a beauty kicking up the hill from a tight angle.
So, while Tarwin were coming home with the wind the margin of 38 points was surely too much and the league's third place team would see their way to week two while Tarwin would be consigned to mothballs, right?
Even allowing for Fishy to kick the first major of the last term via, well you know who (Wilson), the Sharks dug in. Their ruckman, Ricky O'Loughlin, who had toiled manfully with Rhett Wiedemann in the ruck all day channelled his inner Polly Farmer in the last and won clearance after clearance for his side. All the front half territory eventually paid off and with Tarwin doing everything they could to get Jack Hayes either deep or up to a wing the cracks in the Fishy defence opened and Tarwin got back within a neat 20 points when they kicked four in five minutes.
However, as he had done all day Charlie Wilson popped up and capitalised on some good work from Jai Stefani to stem the tide and when Jacko Wiedemann slotted his third for the day as the final hooter sounded it was Fishy by thirty-eight.
Fish Creek named Luke Williams, the Wiedemann boys and Tom Valenta as their best. And no doubt they all had their moments, but I might have found room for Blaine Coates among the leading quartet.
For Tarwin Louis Armstrong was best on with Ricky O'Loughlin, Troy Haley and Lucas Harmer filling spots two, three and four. Not named was Ben Chalmers who I thought was impressive all day long.
Winning coach Jarrod Walker reflected on the first quarter saying "we were a bit slow out of the gates and Tarwin were looking really good". "We were able to get our running game going through the second and third quarters which was good to see."
Lachi Jones whilst not content with the loss said he was super pleased with their effort. "We put up a fight for the majority of the day."