A 63-point loss may not sound satisfying, but the Gunnedah Bulldogs had every reason to not feel too bad about this result against the Inverell Saints in last Saturday’s AFL North West (NSW) clash at Varley Oval.
The result was far more respectable than the two previous encounters between the clubs, with Inverell having won by 124 and 121 points on May 3 and June 21 respectively.
The Saints also had wins by 163 and 82 points in two of their clashes with the Bulldogs last year.
Admittedly the field was very wet last Saturday, which meant it wasn’t easy to play free-flowing football.
Gunnedah entered last Saturday’s fixture on the back of a maiden win for the 2025 season: 18.19.127 to 5.12.42 against a depleted New England Nomads outfit before the Bulldogs were well below full strength at Varley Oval.
Another huge loss to the Saints looked possible as the home side led 5.2.32 to 1.0.6 at quarter-time and 10.5.65 to 2.6.18 at half-time, but the rate of scoring slowed down in the remaining quarters.
The visitors could hold their heads high in the third term as both teams landed one goal and two behinds in this period, before the hosts kicked 2.4.16 to nil in the final term to run out 13.11.89 to 3.8.26 victors.
Inverell’s Brady Mather was the standout with seven goals while six of his teammates landed one major each.
Liam Naismith, Andrew Osmond and player-coach Jakob Vearing kicked one goal apiece for Gunnedah, which has a bye this coming weekend.
“The wet weather prevented both sides from transition football which was good because it made our younger players work on possession and overall contest intensity,” Vearing said.
“I was very happy with the day’s efforts, we were severely undermanned but (it) was a huge day for development where all players found a new level for attack on the ball and showed a desperation in the contest that I haven’t seen yet.”
