DESPITE suffering its eighth straight loss of the Hampden Football Netball League 2023 season, Hamilton Kangaroos can take positives from its latest game against Terang-Mortlake at Melville Oval on Saturday.

After suffering a shock loss to Warrnambool last round, Terang-Mortlake was quickly back to form against the Kangaroos with a 19.23 (137) – 11.3 (69) defeat of the home side.

Hamilton Kangaroos will take two positives from the game with its kicking for goal being the best for several years, and the matching of the Bloods in the third term as each team kicked 4.2 for the stanza.

Terang-Mortlake was able to unleash its outside runners as the ball moved into its forward line and while the Kangaroos backs repelled most of the attacking raids, the visitors still managed four majors for the first term and took a 14-point lead into the first change of ends.

The Bloods took their game up a notch in the second quarter as they piled on a further six goals while keeping the Kangaroos to an additional two goals as the lead swelled to be 46 points at the long break.

The home side returned to the ground for the third quarter more determined to take the visitors on and each team posted four goals for the term, but the Roos couldn’t maintain the momentum in the last stanza as their opponents kicked a further five goals to the Roos three to run out 68-point victors.

Deacon White, Taine Morris, Noah Herrmann, Zach Burgess, Ethan Knight and Bailey Baker were the best of a well-beaten Hamilton Kangaroos team while William Kain, Kane Johnstone, Ryley Hutchins, Dylan Jones, Lewis Taylor and Ben Reid maintained their great individual form.

Reserves

DESPITE being held scoreless in the first quarter, the Hamilton Kangaroos kept Terang-Mortlake within reach throughout its reserves clash at Melville Oval, eventually losing, 4.1 (25) – 6.12 (48).

The Kangaroos fought back in the second quarter to level the scores at halftime with two unanswered goals to drag themselves back into the contest.

Scoring was at a premium against in the third term with each team adding only a single goal to their tally, but Terang-Mortlake kicked four behinds also to open a three-point lead heading into the last term.

The visitors were wasteful in front of goal as they had 12 shots on goal to the Kangaroos four at the last change of ends, but the Bloods turned it around to register four goals in the last quarter to skip away from the determined home side.

Jake Tonissen, Hunter Plush, James Whyte, Allan Martin, James Pike and Kane Taylor did everything in their power to gain victory for the Roos, but Ryan Tanner, Connor Cardwell, Bailey Kavenagh, Josef O’Sullivan and Chris Crawley were just that little bit better on the day for the Bloods.

Under-18.5’s

SATURDAY dawned with heavy rain lashing Melville Oval which made the centre cricket wicket block even more of a bog than it already was, but it was the same for both teams as the Under-18.5 game started a big day of football at the venue.

Hamilton Kangaroos recorded a fine 50-point victory, 8.22 (70) - 3.2 (20), that should have been so much better after a poor conversion rate by the home side.

The home side dominated from the opening ball-up and only wasteful kicking for goal kept the margin from ballooning out even more.

Charlie Field, Angus Kissel, Kaeden Talay, Jake Hardy, Thomas Calvert and Noah Mulley stood out for Hamilton Kangaroos while Tyler Vickers, Ned Roberts, Tyson Royal, Mitchell Hughes, Will Layley and Damien Goddard gave their all in a well-beaten Bloods side.