Bulldogs unveil mid-season recruits

On Saturday they trailed by just five points at quarter time, by a goal at the long break and then by 13 at three-quarter time. Tallygaroopna kicked four goals to two in the final term to win by 31 points.

Kyle Armstrong was the pick of the three new players, who all joined the Bulldogs from Heathcote league club Elmore.

The former Echuca United star kicked three goals, while Liam Grundy also finished in the best players, playing alongside the third of the recruits in defence, Matthew Nettlefold.

Merrigum made five changes to its line-up from the previous game, when it beat Undera by 87 points. Harley Constable, who kicked seven goals in that win, was missing from the team on Saturday.

The Bulldogs did welcome back ruckman Jacob Prout, who hadn’t played since round four.

Tally full foward Brent Arho, who had 46 goals from 10 games going into the game, was kept to one goal by the defence led by Darcy Collins.

Former Avenel player Cael McCarthy kicked three goals for Tally in the win, but Merrigum won its fair share of the ball from the centre with Brad Taylor and Shelby Ludlow-Lambrick continuing their good seasons.

Jake Gascoyne took his goal tally to 26 for the season with another two majors, supported by Joel McCarten and livewire Josh Catalano.

• A 10-goal-to-nothing third quarter cost Stanhope any hope of causing an upset in the first of its two games against top-of-the-ladder Murchison-Toolamba.

The two clubs will meet again on August 3, with the Lions now having Merrigum and Longwood to overcome before a second game against the Grasshoppers in round 14.

Stanhope trailed by three goals at quarter time, managing just the one goal for the opening term, but by half time the Lions had cut that margin to 12 points.

Coach Adam Lovison said what came next was extremely disappointing and not reflective of the three-quarter effort of his team.

“We just stopped in the third quarter. We got smashed out of the midfield and put under massive pressure in the back line,” he said.

“We got it out of there a few times, but it came straight back. It wasn’t so much them, it was a major lapse in concentration from our guys and you can’t do that when you play a top side.

“It was a really disappointing result. We should not have been blown out of the water like we were and it really did not represent the rest of the game.”

The scoreline from the remaining three quarters was seven goals to three, but the final result was an 80-point win for Murchison-Toolamba.

Champion full forward James Lloyd finished the game with six goals and now has 97 for the season.

Tom Rennie, the Lions’ leading goalkicker from last season, played on Lloyd for the entire game as Lovison played on the other Lloyd (Aidan).

Aidan Lloyd kicked three goals for the game, but Stanhope’s best players were mostly from its defensive unit.

Stuart Trevena, Lukas Hanslow, co-captain Jack Donnell and veteran Craig Emmett all rated mentions in Lovison’s assessment of the game.

For Stanhope, Rhys Smith’s two goals was the only multiple contribution in attack.

Lovison also said the work of Daniel Maher in the ruck and Alex Young, who played in the forward line and midfield, was also a good sign.

Fifth-ranked Stanhope will get Darcy Keck, Zane O’Donnell and Brady Wileman back this week as the Lions fight to hang on to a place in the top six.

As for ‘round two’ against Murchison-Toolamba, Lovison said he had some plans for next time round, the main one being not dropping off and believing that they could match it with the league’s best teams.

“We showed that we can run with the best, now we need to believe it,” he said.