North Ballarat news

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
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FOR A FEW moments on Sunday night, Oli Tate studied the ladder and contemplated scenarios.

It is complicated, it is incredibly tight and there are few guarantees leading into the final round of the Victorian Football League.

He put the ladder away and will not look at it again this week.

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
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SUDDENLY, North Ballarat Roosters stagnated.

Players emphatically agreed when their coach called for intensity in the three-quarter-time huddle, but their nine-point lead at the final break quickly morphed into a 19-point loss at Eureka Stadium yesterday.

The Selkirk Roosters did not score in the final quarter against Victorian Football League top-four contender Williamstown.

They looked flat, defeated, before the Seagulls even really took full control.

Intensity was lost.

Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald said his team showed it was close in measuring up against a top-four team – only 19 points short – but the Roosters were not quite there yet.

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
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THE atmosphere at Frankston Oval is generally a little festive – the conga drum, trumpet and friendly-looking Dolphin mascot enhance the seaside location that even on a cold day, as is expected tomorrow, it feels a little like a holiday party.

But it will be far from festive on the field.

Frankston and North Ballarat Roosters will enter a massive battle that could make or break their Victorian Football League campaigns.

Both sit outside the top eight on percentage to Northern Blues – the Selkirk Roosters are slightly ahead in ninth spot – among a backlog of teams fighting to claim ninth spot

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
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IN A tribute normally bestowed on champion players, the North Ballarat Roosters chaired their coach Gerard FitzGerald from the field on Saturday.

The triple premiership coach chalked up a 14-point win against Sandringham for his 300th game at the helm in the Victorian Football League.

He achieves a milestone feat only shared by legendary VFA coach and former South Melbourne star Bill Faul in the league’s 136-year history.

The Roosters playing group gathered on-field near the players’ race looking up at the coaches’ box and applauding FitzGerald as he emerged.

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
Full Story Click Here

STABILITY is important for North Ballarat Roosters as they seek to build a full four-quarter effort this Victorian Football League season.

The Roosters last night named an unchanged line-up, plus extended interchange, to face Werribee on Sunday.

There has been plenty of in-depth match analysis and soul-searching at Eureka Stadium after the Roosters lost a fifth match this season from a one-quarter blow-out.

This line-up pushed Box Hill and staged a late resurgence at home last week. It has lots to prove and momentum to gain before the Roosters enter a bye round.

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
Full Story Click Here

ROOSTERS captain Michael Searl has been ruled out of action for at least three weeks with a broken hand.

It is a heavy blow for North Ballarat Roosters, who host fifth-placed Box Hill tomorrow, but it comes in a week that defender Liam Hoy has been cleared to return to the backlines from a broken thumb.

Roosters team manager Marg Richards confirmed yesterday that it was a clean break in Searl’s hand and the skipper would not require surgery.

Searl sustained the injury in the Selkirk Roosters’ 44-point loss to Northern Blues in Victorian Football League action on Saturday.

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
Full Story Click Here

THERE are those who naively tell North Ballarat Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald that today’s game is a free win already – no stress, easy points.

FitzGerald said it was “a bit too convenient” of an assessment.

Frankston is no longer the cellar-dweller easy beat of the Victorian Football League.

Already this season, the Dolphins have nabbed wins against traditional heavyweight Port Melbourne and Collingwood, a team that defeated the Roosters by 52 points in round one.

This is no fluke.

From Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
Full Story Click Here

THIS is just business for Essendon.

The Bombers’ AFL team played amid the added hype and emotion of Anzac Day at the MCG on Thursday.

Their Victorian Football League match in Ballarat today is like the finishing note before they sign out and move on for another week.

They will field a string of players pushing for AFL selection – like Tayte Pears, Ben Melksham, and Joe Daniher, the athletic tall who was almost granted an AFL debut this week.

North Ballarat Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald said the VFL was no longer just about developing lists when it came to AFL clubs.