BUNDOORA, VIC. (NFNL HQ). — Ivanhoe continued its unbeaten season and secured the Northern Football Netball League’s Division 3 minor premiership with a 20-point triumph over main rival Laurimar Power at Ivanhoe Park last Saturday.
The win officially confirmed that the Hoers will claim top spot and have the bye in the first week of the finals.
Ivanhoe will follow in the footsteps of the 2025 Fitzroy Stars in going through the regular season undefeated if they can overcome Epping in the final round next week.
Laurimar will finish second, and they now go to the Round 18 bye before finals action the following week.
The top-of-the-table clash gave fans an even first quarter.
Joel Lawson kicked two in a few minutes for the Power, including a great snap from wide left.
The Hoers had two majors on the board in the opening term. One came from Oscar McIntyre, who went to the line after a 50-metre penalty. The other saw a wonderful pass from Alex Federico to Charles Robinson who made no mistake.
Early in the term, Ivanhoe missed a few chances to go further in front. The last 15 minutes saw six behinds kicked as well as a couple of shots that didn’t score at all.
During that time, Laurimar missed some chances to grab the lead. A difficult shot at goal after the siren by Ivanhoe’s Marcus Rogers went through for a behind to give his side a three-point lead at the first break.
It didn’t take long for Rogers to redeem himself as he snapped a major in the first minute of the second term. The ball lived in the Hoers’ forward line for most of the quarter, but it was very congested for much of that time.
Against the run of play, the Power swept the ball forward for Bailey Macleod to snap truly. When Joel Lawson took a great mark out wide and slotted his third, the scores were tied at 27-apiece.
As they have done many times this season, Ivanhoe booted three quick unanswered goals in red time. Tristan Stead slotted a long set shot on the half-time siren to give his side a 20-point buffer.
The Hoers were quickly out of the blocks after the main break when Robinson slotted his second. When Joel Kleiman snapped a great goal at the 9-minute mark, the lead had blown out to a game-high 32 points.
Laurimar managed to lift from that point onwards, and Jake Francis was able to intercept an Ivanhoe pass and snap a goal. After Loton goaled for the home team, the Power managed to score three goals on the trot. It left them with a manageable 14-point deficit at the last change.
It was goal for goal in the final term until Robinson sealed the deal for the home team when he snapped his third of the day to make it a 26-point lead.
Youngster Tyler Thomas scored a late goal for Laurimar to make the final margin 20-points. Fans of both teams would like to see their players do better in front of goal as several easy shots were missed.
The pressure applied all over the ground also contributed to errors in field kicking. Good decision-making under pressure will be a key stat in the next few weeks.
“I’m happy with our fierce contest work on the smaller ground and it was good preparation for both teams leading up to the finals,” said Ivanhoe coach Wayne Schultz.
Schultz, who did not play on the day, liked the work of Michael Doyle in restricting leading goal-kicker Patrick Fitzgerald to two majors. He also praised the work of MVP leader Riley Loton and his fellow midfielder Daniel Horsfield. Horsfield entertained the crowd by going the torp after the three-quarter time siren from 60 metres out. Although he got onto it well, it fell just short.
Others to impress through the middle for the Hoers were captain Alex Federico, Jake van der Veeken and Joel Kleiman, while Tom Hallebone took some good, contested marks around the ground.
While Ivanhoe will head to the finals full of confidence, Laurimar fans will feel that they have bridged the gap on the league leaders and will give themselves a chance to challenge them in the coming weeks.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t win, but there were plenty of positives to take out of it,” said Laurimar coach Jimmy Atkins. He loved the work of Noah Mooney in defence and gave the entire defence a big tick. Mooney took numerous intercept marks and also brought the ball to ground with decisive punches. Atkins also liked the efforts of Josh Campbell in the middle and Joel Lawson.
The Power moved the ball out of the middle very well at times and had periods of positive momentum.
Both of today’s combatants will look to bring back a few star players in the next couple of weeks, and any meeting between them in the finals series should be a great spectacle.
