Geelong & District coach Paul Lynch has paid tribute to the commitment of the competition’s brightest young talent after the Raiders handed Colac and District a 106-point hiding at Winchelsea’s Eastern Reserve on Saturday.
After a seven-point win in last year’s contest, the GDFNL made light work of the CDFNL this time around, retaining the Hickey-Whitley Shield with an 18.21 (129) to 3.5 (23).
“It would have been nice, as a spectator (for the margin) to be a lot closer and all that sort of stuff,” Lynch said. “But, we were there to win a game of footy.
“They probably had a few out. But we did too.
“I just thought we played really well, and we probably just didn’t give them a chance, to be honest.
“Credit to the boys; their buy-in was excellent again this year.
“You could just see at the start of the game that they were there to win. They weren’t there to play an exhibition game; they were there to win a game of footy.”
In an even team performance in the under-25 battle, Belmont Lions midfielder Michael Murdoch won the ‘Sid’ Jones Medal as best-on-ground for the Raiders.
“I thought he was really, really good,” Lynch said. “We had a lot of good players, but all day he just bashed in and crashed.
“He would have had 20 tackles, I reckon.
“He was so good around the footy and just able to get that repeat stoppage all the time for us.”
From the moment Winchelsea star Cam Primmer kicked a goal from a free kick inside the opening 90 seconds, the GDFNL had control of the contest.
It took Colac & District until the 26th minute of the first term to kick its first goal, when Charlie Morrissy converted a long set shot.
However, they would only add two more majors for the rest of the day.
If not for inaccuracy from the Raiders, the margin could have been greater.
Captain Ben McPherson led an impressive forward line, finishing with four goals, while North Geelong’s Cooper Vaughan contributed three.
Primmer and East Geelong’s Ben Mulvahil each kicked two majors.
“I didn’t think we had any big marking forwards… our smalls were going to be the issue for them,” Lynch said.
“I thought Cooper Vaughan was very, very good, too. He would have had six or seven shots on goal.
“Boston (Riccardi) was dangerous. (Cam) Saliba was dangerous. All those smalls were a real handful.”
Lynch was also impressed with the work of Bannockburn’s Rhys Ginn in the ruck, as well as Fin Parish, Jed Hanneysee and Banjo Hickey.
“He’s come along in leaps and bounds, Banjo,” Lynch said. “He’s got real good football qualities.
“He stands up in the tackle and fights the tackle. And I thought he was exceptional for an 18-or 19-year-old kid.
“He’s got a big future ahead of him.”
Having taken care of the CDFNL in consecutive years, Lynch is open to the prospect of the Raiders challenging the Bellarine in the under-25 format.
“There’s definitely a lot of young talent in the GDFNL, and that was on show today,” he said
“We (coaching staff) were saying how well we kicked the footy for a Geelong and District side, and gave our forwards every opportunity with the way we moved the footy.
“I think, going forward, it’s not the worst idea.
“I know there’s a lot of talent in the Bellarine, but if it were an under-25 thing, I think we wouldn’t be too far behind them.”
X: @krockfootball
GDFNL 18.21 (129)
CDFNL 3.5 (23)
Goals – GDFNL: B. McPherson 4, C. Vaughan 3, B. Mulvahil 2, C. Primmer 2, B. Kelly, B. Hickey, B. Riccardi, H. Carr, J. Hall, T. Camilleri, Z. Jones
CDFNL: C. Morrissy, J. Ramos, S. Mulgrew
