By Tara Murray
Saturday was a day to forget for the Ballarat Football League interleague side.
The BFL team was left to rue missed opportunities and poor execution, as they faced a slicker and cleaner Hampden Football League side in the AFL Victoria WorkSafe Community Cup.
Goalless in the first quarter, the BFL was left chasing its tail all day, eventually losing 20.15 (135)-8.13 (61).
BFL coach Chris Stuhldreier said everything went wrong right from the start.
“We missed opportunities early to hit the scoreboard,” he said.
“We turned the ball over and they were good by foot and able to hit the scoreboard.
“They were very clean and once they had the momentum it was hard to stop.”
Stuhldreier said they had periods of dominance but weren’t able to make the most of it.
He said had they been able to do that, especially in the third quarter when they kicked 3.12, the game could have been a lot closer.
“They were able to go forward and kick a late goal which stifled our momentum.
“We had still been hoping to come over the top of them in the last quarter, we thought they had run out of steam.”
Jordan Johnston and Aaron Willitts kicked two goals each for the BFL.
Grant Valles was awarded the BFL’s best player medal by the umpires.
Stuhldreier said it was hard to find a clear winner for the side.
“We didn’t have any standouts,” he said. “The back line was under pressure all day and performed reasonably well.”
The loss is the BFL’s second in a row and could see it slip outside the top 10 ranked leagues in the state.
Stuhldreier said every league goes through a cycle where they struggle in the competition.
He said they needed to address it and turn things around.
In the open netball, Hampden beat the BNL 55-44.
Kirsty Walsh was best on court for the BNL.
