Charlton has hosted Wycheproof-Narraport in round 17 of North Central Football, playing for the Mount of Prevention “Respect” Cup, an annual event to raise awareness of domestic violence and the “It’s Never OK” campaign.
Survivor and campaign organizer, Kim O’Reilly, was on hand to address the crowd and present the Cup to winning captain, Charlton’s Tim Hill.
A huge crowd had gathered at Charlton Park, as Charlton hosted past players and members of winning premiership teams of the “3s”. In football terms, that was the 1973 and 2003 senior teams, 1973 netball under-16s, 2003 “A” grade netball, 2013 “C” grade netball, and the 1983 “B” grade hockey premiers.
The crowd was hoping to cheer home a winning senior side, no doubt having heard of Charlton’s build through the season, eager to see for themselves how this current crop of players were going about building to Charlton’s next premiership side. Wycheproof-Narraport’s Demons on the other hand were looking to finish their season on a high; no next week for them, their season finishing on Saturday with the bye to come next week, and any mathematical chance of finals biting the dust in last week’s loss to the rampaging Sea Lake-Nandaly outfit.
Without coach Boe Bish, Wycheproof-Narraport looked to established stars Gedd Hommelhoff, the ageless Corey Jones, and Rick Allan to lead from the front and maintain the Demons’ recent dominance of their great Calder Highway rivals, Charlton. Allan got the visitors off to the perfect start, on the end of good ball movement by two of the Demons’ best on the day, Justin Bateson and Damien Horbury. That opening goal sparked the Charlton side into action. From the resulting ball up, a clean centre clearance from Sam Woods finished with the ball in the hands of the dynamic Chris Gavaghan, making no mistake, converting from just inside the arc. Woods with first hands on the ball again at the centre bounce able to feed Jesse Taylor, Anthony Judd pinpointing Charlton’s star of the future Nick Thompson, who cooly went back and converted from a tightish angle in the pocket, the Navies clearly coming to play. Gavaghan missed a golden opportunity for Charlton to have three goals on the board in the space of five minutes and blow the game open. Play then see-sawed between half forward lines as both teams found their feet, the Demons looking to assert themselves on the game. Alex Hogan with his hands full as Nick Thompson kicked Charlton’s third after an intercept mark at half back from Kris Clffford turned defence into attack. With Charlton’s Jaydon Cowling running with Demons’ general Gedd Hommelhoff, the visitors were relying on captain Joel Turner and Dayne McLennan to provide their midfield drive. Veteran Corey Jones showed his class with an ice cool set shot from deep within the pocket. Late goals to Charlton captain Tim Hill and a second for the quarter to Gavaghan and the home side would take a handy 17-point advantage into the first change.
The Demons started the second quarter intent on getting the game on their terms, looking to up their contested possession game and deny the Charlton side any ease of ball movement. Reward for hard running came in the form of a goal to Gedd Hommelhoff, showing his class, reading the play and kicking the simplest of goals from inside the square to wrest some momentum from the home side. From there the ball spent a lot of time on the ground, clean possession hard to come by, the tackling pressure immense from both sides, the umpires reluctant to either reward or penalise the tackler. An amazing spinning snapping goal from Charlton’s Jesse Taylor, quickly followed by another Gavaghan goal, this time from a strong pack mark in the mouth of goal, saw Charlton get out to a four-goal lead. Wycheproof-Narraport’s Jones though, having none of it, was crashing packs like a 20-year-old and calmly kicking back-to-back majors to keep the visitors in touch. And when Matthew Beckmans put through a long range running effort, the Demons had put their noses in front for the first time in the contest, 10 minutes or so from half-time. Contested possession again became paramount, both teams showing the tenacity and willingness to throw themselves at the contest. A great example of Charlton’s development through the year, youngster Mason Heenan was now getting game time on the ball, winning a free kick at a stoppage, before going back and kicking the goal to put the Navies back in front. A Gavaghan behind the only other score for the half, Charlton in front by one straight kick, Wycheproof-Narraport winning the quarter kicking five goals to three.
The break at half-time rejuvenated both sides, vigorous attack on the footy common place and the sides traded behinds for early part of the third term. Charlton’s youth again on display, bookending the opening goal of the second half, strong Bailey Dixon intercept mark resulted in the ball going deep forward where Nick Thompson used his smarts and speed to run into an open goal and break the run of behinds. Charlton reduced to one rotation shortly into the third term, having already lost Travis Baird during the second quarter to what looked like a lower leg complaint. Jed Carey soon joined him on the sidelines, ice applied to an ankle/foot issue. Back-to-back goals to the Demons’ key forwards Jones and Ben Fraser and the visitors had drawn on level terms, causing a few headaches for the Charlton bench as momentum appeared to be all with the mighty Demons. Not wanting to let the big crowd down, Nick Thompson again stepped to the plate, kicking a long range bomb, and Sam Woods converting after yet another hard ball “get”. Charlton was back out to a two goal lead when the siren sounded to end the third quarter.
Charlton off to a perfect start in the last, kicked towards the boisterous reunion crowd, Gavaghan put through his fourth, moments after the restart. Riely Thiesz enormous for the homeside, shouldered rucking duties after Jed Thompson was summoned back into defence to mind the ever-present Jones. When Kris Clifford wound back the clock, producing a blind turn after a clean pick up to spin and put through Navies’ thirteenth goal of the day, closely followed by Harry Taylor kicking truly, the home side had opened up the biggest lead of the day, out to a five-goal advantage. Gedd Hommelhoff was doing what he could to keep his side alive, winning a free and converting, but Nick Thompson responded for Charlton, putting through his fifth of the day, putting paid to the Demons’ short-lived resurgence. A couple of late consolation goals to the visitors, including Corey Jones’s sixth of the day, reduced the margin. Charlton eventually ran out 16-point victors, a resounding turn-around from the 69-point thumping they received in the corresponding match just nine weeks ago.
Final scores: Charlton 15.6.96 to Wycheproof-Narraport 12.8.80.
Best for Charlton: Sam Woods (Teys Australia); Jaydon Cowling (East Charlton Hotel); Nick Thompson (North West Ag); Riely Thiesz (Charlton Community Bank); Chris Gavaghan; Ben Lanyon; Kris Clifford (Vale of Avoca).
For Wycheproof-Narraport: Alex Hogan; Tom Trewin; Spencer Allan; Justin Bateson; Matthew Beckmans; Gedd Hommelhoff.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 15 August 2023.
