The ground was slushy, rain came down sideways and the ball wasn’t strictly sticking.
However, the Swans were able to ward off Dookie United's rolling efforts and claim a 9.6 (60) to 6.7 (43) victory, shoring up fourth spot on the Kyabram District League table with three rounds until finals.
“They were very, very challenging conditions, it was a very wet afternoon with a bit of breeze up, but it was just a real dogfight of a game in the end,” Huy said.
“Dookie, to their credit, didn’t drop off; they kept going and kept coming at us and we couldn’t capitalise on some of our ball decisions.
“It was very fumbly, obviously, because of the conditions, they were probably a little bit cleaner by hand than us to be honest.
“It was a tough day, but the boys fought it out for the four quarters, they didn’t drop off and we were able to hold on for the win by 17 points by the end of it.”
Admittedly, Huy said his side initially attempted to play the game as if rain wasn’t coming down in buckets.
That didn’t work, so instead, it went simple.
Tactics reverted to “move it forward” and it paid off as Avenel took an 18-point lead into half-time.
But in the last quarter, rain wasn’t the only factor to contend with.
The Swans lost two players during the third term and were forced to compete with one rotation in the fourth quarter, possibly opening the door for Dookie to come barging through and snatch a win.
However, a stingy last exchange had just one goal apiece, leaving Huy proud of how his players dug in, clenched their teeth and won ugly in the wet.
“The message to the boys throughout was stop trying to play dry condition footy, we’ve got to play to the conditions and keep trying to move the ball forward at all costs,” Huy said.
“(We had) to trust in our ability and our grit that we’ll get through the game and come out victorious, which, to the boys’ credit, they did.”
Huy heaped praise on his midfield in trying conditions, with the likes of Liam Lucas, Connor Caldow, Jack Myers and reigning McNamara medallist Braydon Avola stepping up when things got tricky.
They’ll need to fire when finals come around — and if it’s wet then, Avenel now knows what to expect.
“Conditions yesterday didn’t allow us to play the brand of footy that we really want to play, but who knows what the finals campaign is going to be like,” Huy said.
“It could be wet grounds in the finals as well, which as I said to the boys after the game, we hadn’t played on a day like today which we found a little bit difficult.
“Not playing (in the wet) at all throughout the year, you don’t really get any preparation for it, but both teams had to go through it.
“But I think we’re going along very nicely to be able to look to our first final.
“There’s still three games we’ve got to win to cement ourselves where we want to be at four — I don’t think we can go up any higher than four.”
Several blowouts underlined most of the round’s other games, with Nagambie securing the biggest of them all.
The Lakers kicked a monstrous 17 goals after half-time to walk away 28.14 (182) to 2.6 (18) winners over Violet Town, while Girgarre rolled Undera for a similarly one-sided 140-point victory.
Murchison-Toolamba forward James Lloyd heaped the hurt on Rushworth with a nine-goal bag during the Hoppers’ 23.15 (153) to 4.5 (29) destruction of the Tigers, and Jamie Spencer celebrated his 200th senior game in style as Shepparton East toppled Merrigum by 108 points.
Stanhope’s Jason Leocata also brought up a major milestone — game number 300 — in a win as the Lions staved off Longwood’s challenge by 30 points.
Finally, Lancaster did enough to beat Tallygaroopna, winning 11.15 (81) to 9.3 (57).
