Sport

Wombats pipped at the post by defending champs

By Oliver Shedden

Sep 2, 2025

Ryan Hatch has his eyes on the ball. Photos: Megan Fisher. Photo by Megan Fisher

After Lancaster was the sole side to defeat defending Kyabram District League football champions Murchison-Toolamba in the regular season, the Grasshoppers got sweet revenge in the first semi-final on Saturday.

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Playing on neutral territory at Longwood Recreation Reserve, the Wombats looked in control of a competitive game — until they didn’t.

Nailing four goals out the gate gave Lancaster a nice advantage over the Grasshoppers, who were slow to get going, with a pair of goals and behinds at the first turn.

Cameron Simpson winds up for an explosive handball. Photo by Megan Fisher

Murch doubled its first-quarter score in the second, while the Wombats continued to look promising, drilling a trio of maximums to increase their lead to 18 at the major break.

The third term was where things began to shift, as both teams stalled in attack, with each putting through a goal and three behinds in a game looking increasingly likely to come down to the wire.

Riley O’Neill shakes a flying Andrew Lloyd. Photo by Megan Fisher

Then, for Lancaster, the wheels fell off.

Finding just one behind down the stretch left the door ajar for the reigning premiers, who pounced on the opportunity, booting three majors to snatch the game away at the death 8.11 (59) to 8.8 (56).

Lachy Seddon and Ashton Cashion lock down Nicholas Kellow. Photo by Megan Fisher

“I think we had the game on our terms for a large portion of it, as you can see, the scoreboard reflected that,“ Lancaster coach Nick Ryan said, reflecting on the game.

“We had our chances, and we know in finals you need some things to go your way and at the end of it, it just didn’t.

Blake McAuliffe has a giggle. Photo by Megan Fisher

“We probably just lost a bit of structure, lost a bit of composure, we had some injuries, and we were some rotations down, but look, there’s no real excuses for it.

“We’ll still take a lot of confidence out of the game, we know that we can get through this week and meet them again in the granny, that we’re still confident in the group we’ve got, and we can get the job done.”

Murchison-Toolamba’s Aaron Miller lays a strong tackle. Photo by Megan Fisher

The Wombats will now head to Central Park Recreation Reserve for a preliminary final against surging underdog Rushworth — a team that Lancaster refuses to underestimate.

“We definitely don’t take them lightly, even when we played them earlier in the year, they gave us a massive run so we’re definitely not looking past them,” Ryan said.