For the first time in almost four seasons Lancaster footballers walked away empty-handed from a weekend of football, the club losing both qualifying semi-final games to Murchison-Toolamba at Girgarre on Saturday and then the under-18 eliminator on Sunday at Undera.
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They will now have to take the “long road“ in order to qualify for a three-peat of Kyabram District League grand final appearances.
Both the Wombats senior and reserve grade teams finished second on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season.
The Wombats were comprehensively outplayed in the senior qualifying final by a slick Murchison-Toolamba outfit and didn’t manage their first goal until the third quarter.
Co-captain Charlie Mclay won the toss and kicked with the aid of a significant breeze. It was a sign of things to come when the Wombats trailed by seven points and had two less scoring shots than the Grasshoppers at quarter-time.
Earlier in the day the reserve grade team, which is also the competition’s reigning premier, was also beaten by the Murchison-Toolamba combination — albeit in a much tighter contest.
Lancaster finished with just three goals in difficult conditions where a strong south-east breeze significantly favoured the clubrooms end of the Girgarre Recreation Reserve.
Murchison-Toolamba increased its quarter-time lead to 29 points at half-time by keeping the Wombats scoreless in the second term.
And despite the Wombats winning the third quarter three goals to one they were dominated in the last and lost the game 9.11 (65) to 3.4 (22).
In the corresponding fixture last season the Wombats were 26-point winners against Nagambie and went on to win the grand final against the same team by 65 points.
In their 2022 premiership year they won straight through to the grand final by beating Nagambie by 18 points and then won a low-scoring grand final by 10 points.
The Wombats will now face Shepparton East in the third week of the finals, a spot in the grand final against Murchison-Toolamba the reward for the winner.
James Lloyd took his goal tally to 134 with another four majors on the weekend, but missed a couple of early opportunities as his team kicked into a howling gale from the opening half hour.
His opponent for the afternoon, Nick McAuliffe, probably broke even with the KDL superstar given the amount of opportunities he was offered through the dominance of the Grasshoppers midfield.
The “other Lloyds”, Andrew and Aiden, were even more impressive with their around-the-ground aerial work that perfectly complemented the ground level play of James Milne and Jai Utiger.
As the scoreboard indicated, in the first half anyway, the Wombats struggled to find a regular path to goal. Only Morrie Serra, with two goals, offered a consistent target as the wind made hitting targets difficult for midfielders.
Nick Ryan was the pick of the Lancaster big men, his work supported by Lachlan Boscarini’s big game ability and the defensive commitment of Noah Sewell.
The Wombats beat their opponent for this weekend, Shepparton East, by 37 points the first time they met (way back in round two). There was, however, only four points separating the teams three weeks ago in the final home-and-away match between the pair.
• Eighty points separated Lancaster and Murchison-Toolamba in round five this year, giving the unbeaten Grasshoppers clear favouritism going into the weekend’s qualifying semi-final.
That game was the first Wombats loss in two years, but on Saturday at Girgarre they were more than up for the challenge. At the final siren there was only five points in the game as Murchison-Toolamba maintained its unbeaten season in a curtain-raiser cliffhanger to the senior game.
Only one point separated the teams at quarter-time and at half-time the teams were dead level.
Lancaster had arguably it strongest line-up of the season, featuring veteran premiership star Rikki Busch and regular senior players Kyle Kidd and Daniel Foley.
Kicking with the wind in the third term Murchison-Toolamba was an eight-point leader at the final change and early in the final term Lancaster captain Trent McNamara cut the margin to two points.
With Riley Williams and Bailey Lloyd charging into contests throughout the afternoon, Lancaster broke even in the midfield and the defensive work of Oliver McAuliffe and Steve George was almost enough to cause an upset.
Lancaster will now face Stanhope for the right to tackle Murchison-Toolamba in the grand final, the Lions beating Avenel by 29 points in an upset result at Undera on Sunday.
The 9.2 (56) to 3.9 (27) win came on the back of Rochester recruit Kian Verrall’s best on ground effort and two goals from both veteran Daryl Harrison, former Rushworth senior goalkicker Layne Baker and one of the three Canny boys in the team, Josh.
Undera recruit Daniel Brock was also a star as the Lions set up the win with nine goals to two in the first three quarters. Avenel had one more scoring shot, but was inaccurate with its kicking.
• After beating Shepparton East twice during the home-and-away season, the latest victory only a fortnight ago by 24 points, Lancaster’s under-18 team has been bundled out of the premiership race by the Eagles.
In round two the Wombats beat Shepparton East by four points and then kept the Eagles to just two goals in the last home-and-away round. At Undera on Sunday it was a different story as the Eagles led from start to finish and won 6.6 (42) to 3.14 (32).
After half-time Lancaster kicked only two goals from 12 scoring shots, having been kept scoreless in the opening quarter.
Shepparton East led by six points at half-time and by nine at the final change before all six of the Wombats’ scoring shots in the last quarter were behinds.
Luca Hallett kicked all three of Lancaster’s goals, supported by Luke Simmons, Jett Guiney and Charlie Clark in playing catch up after trailing by 16 points at quarter-time.
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