Tara Murray
Kyneton was slightly nervous heading into its clash with Melton Centrals on Saturday in the Riddell District Football League.
On paper, the Tigers went into the match as favourites, but a long injury list had the Tigers unsure what to expect.
President Hayden Evans was relieved to come away with the win.
“It was a good win with the amount of personnel that we had out,” he said. “I’m really happy.
“Across the reserves and seniors we had close to 30 players out.”
Evans said while having so many players wasn’t ideal, it gave them the opportunity to blood more locals.
He said a couple of years ago they wouldn’t have had the numbers to be able to do that.
“We’ve still been able to field sides and give locals an opportunity,” he said. “That is what we wanted to do.
“We had two debutants yesterday [Saturday] and they performed really well. It gives us more depth down the track.
“You never want to use that many players, but there’s positives. Our reserves are also possibly on the way to finals which is really good.”
On Saturday against Centrals, the Tigers set the win up early.
They kicked 7.6 to 1.1 in the first quarter and that would be the difference in the 16.15 (111)-10.6 (66).
Evans said they were really good early on before a real even contest after then.
Ryan Pretty and Lachlan Randle-Hewitt kicked four goals each, while Jack Pilbeam kicked three.
Caleb Fisher, Randle-Hewitt and Pilbeam were named the Tigers best.
Evans said among those missing were their captain and coach. He said they were hoping to get 10 players back before the season ends, but have several season ending injuries.
The Tigers sit percentage outside the top five, behind Macedon, but have played an extra game than the Cats.
Evans said the group was still keen to play finals but the season was a success whether they make the final five or not.
“It’s successful as we’ve played the local kids,” he said. “We’ll probably need to pinch a scalp in to make finals.
“The boys are buoyant and think they can do it. We’re really happy.”
The Tigers have a much needed bye this Saturday.
In other results, it was the Dean Galea show for Riddell in its win against Macedon.
Galea kicked eight goals as the Bombers won, 11.6 (72)-10.7 (67).
Diggers Rest came away with the points against Lancefield, winning 15.8 (98)-3.4 (22) with 300 games Jeff Heritage named best on ground.
The Bombers and Burras will face off in a top of the table clash this week.
In the other match, Wallan beat Woodend-Hesket 12.11 (83)-7.3 (45).
Romsey had the bye.
