The Round 6 night football matches held on Wednesday 26 June between Overnewton and Loyola were a terrific example of the progress of the competitions. Loyola’s former student, champion speed skater and now star AFLW Bulldogs player; Brooke Lochland addressed both teams before the match giving the girls plenty of inspiration for the contest ahead.
The Senior 1st Girls match competed for the inaugural Lochland Cup and Medal at the Keilor Football Ground. Loyola are certainly one of the two standout teams this season and put on a wonderful display. The leadership of their Captain Trinity Mills set the standard along with the incredible athleticism of Jessica Simpson who excelled throughout the game to be awarded the Lochland Medal for best on ground. The Overnewton team played good, solid football in taking on an impressive Loyola team. The Overnewton players never gave in and pushed Loyola all the way, a credit to the whole team on their efforts. The score certainly did not reflect the true closeness of the contest but had Overnewton been able to convert a few more forays into the forward line, then the scoreline would have been more reflective of the excellent competition.
To follow was the Senior 1st Boys playing for the Shaw Morris Cup and Medal. This Cup and Medal is named in honour of Loyola’s former students, Rhyce and Heath Shaw, formerly Collingwood players; Heath now with GWS, and Rhyce played out his career with the Swans and is now caretaker Coach for North Melbourne. Overnewton’s former student and Bulldogs champion Dale Morris is also honoured on this Cup and Medal and his courage and resilience is an inspiration to so many players. The Shaw brothers were represented on the night by their Father former Collingwood champion, Ray Shaw. Ray was alongside Dale Morris as Dale addressed both teams and spoke about his tough path into the AFL and the determination and resilience he had to develop to achieve his dream of becoming an AFL player. Dale believes it was this difficult path that has seen him become one of the toughest and most courageous players in the AFL despite numerous setbacks with serious injuries, he was an instrumental part of the Bulldogs Premiership team in 2016. Dale encouraged all players to never give up on your dreams in any part of life.
Overnewton are having a stellar season, along with Westbourne sit undefeated atop the ACS ladder after 6 rounds. Loyola pushed Westbourne hard to go down by only 9 points and by only 3 points to St Leonard’s so we knew Overnewton were in for a tough match. Both teams got off to a good start and it was a tight contest for the first half. In a similar fashion to the earlier 1st Girls match, the score did not reflect the close level of competition where the Loyola team stood strong and fought out the entire match. In the second half Overnewton were able to cleanly convert their runs into the forward 50 and kicked away for a significant lead.
Congratulations to the four teams on an outstanding display. The final scores were:
1st Girls: Loyola 60 defeated Overnewton 1
1st Boys: Overnewton 63 defeated Loyola 19