Nagambie rocked the league on Saturday as it reversed the 2023 grand final result, beating Lancaster to deliver the Wombats their first defeat and send a seismic shock through the local football landscape.
It could not have come at a better time, either.
The Lakers required four points to stay in the top six race and, though they’re not out of the woods yet with Murchison-Toolamba next up, Nagambie coach Harley Taylor-Lloyd said there were demons exorcised from the 2023 decider.
“It was pretty good motivation,” he said.
“It was a funny stat; I think they’d beaten us six times in a row — two have been a final and one’s a grand final.
“Obviously there were a couple of losses before my return back to Nagambie, but we used that as a bit of motivation during the week at training and then as of Saturday, it was just about what we control, not really what they could do.”
In the previous four-game block Nagambie had lost two games by less than 13-point margins.
That hurt enough in itself.
You could tell Taylor-Lloyd’s boys were a side possessed by quarter-time, up 33-10 with another few gears left to shift up to.
Peaking at the right time is a fine art in any sport and following the sting of close losses coupled with the lingering, sour grand final taste, Saturday proved the perfect storm for Nagambie to unleash hell on the unsuspecting Wombats.
“I could tell yesterday morning that we were on,” Taylor-Lloyd said.
“Everyone was switched on, there was no stuffing around — with a young group you can sometimes have that — but everyone just looked locked in.
“It’s finally good to reap some reward; we’ve been very undermanned all year, I know they had a couple out yesterday, but you can’t tell me any other sides in the top six have played as many senior players as us.
“To where we’re at from where we’ve been, it was just a really good weekend for it to click.”
The decision to start Trent Gladwin and Nick Asquith, usually deployed at half-back, up forward worked wonders as the Lakers heaped on heavy scoreboard pressure.
David Comi and Jonathan Moore traded places and the latter set about dominating the ruck battle as Nagambie extended its lead to 27 points at the half.
Even at three-quarter time, Lancaster had hardly threatened.
However, the Wombats flashed their premiership stripes and kicked 5.3 in the final charge to come close to spoiling the Lakers’ party — but it wasn’t to be with Nagambie closing out an 11.14 (80) to 9.12 (60) victory.
Taylor-Lloyd said the win was duly celebrated, but his boys are hell bent on backing it up against an unbeaten Murchison-Toolamba contingent in the penultimate round.
“For a young group, (this win) does wonders — I can tell you right now.
“Even on a Sunday morning, live in Kilmore and it’s freezing here, but I’ve had 15 message from boys who’ve already been down the river or lake. They’re up and about,” he said.
“It goes both ways with a young group, they can turn on each other pretty quick because they haven’t experienced this struggle at the moment.
“They’ve come out of thirds winning premierships and always being successful and we’ve had a pretty tricky year this year, but to get a win like that yesterday was massive.”
Around the grounds, Murchison-Toolamba’s wrecking form rolled on as the Hoppers smashed Stanhope to bits with a 97-point win while Shepparton East remains in second after seeing off Dookie United 14.15 (99) to 6.8 (44).
Fourth-ranked Avenel was too good for Merrigum, winning 15.18 (108) to 5.5 (35) and Girgarre outclassed Rushworth by 48 points.
Finally, Longwood’s Liam Edwards claimed a 12-goal bag as the Redlegs belted Undera 24.12 (156) to 11.7 (73), while Tallygaroopna showed no mercy to Violet Town as it triumphed by 204 points.
