After a year of ups and downs the Picola District Football League senior season is over for Picola United.

The Blues departed the competition in identical circumstances to last year, in a 6v7 elimination final against Tungamah.

The game was held at Tocumwal Recreation Reserve on Sunday, and saw both sides take control at various stages.

Tungamah had the best of the first quarter, slotting four goals to two to earn the early ascendancy, and a balanced second period saw Picola head into half-time still trailing by two goals.

The Blues came out of the sheds on top and managed to draw within one major before the Bears made the defining surge of the match, kicking four unanswered goals to break clear by more than 30 points.

Picola wasn’t ready to go quietly and ended the third with a major before firing through three more in the last to cut the lead to seven points.

Having been held scoreless in the final term to that point, Tungamah completely shut up shop over the final 10 minutes, bogging down the game and forcing stoppages.

Ultimately, Picola wasn’t able to find a way through, and when the final siren sounded, Tungamah held that same seven-point margin, 11.8 (74) to 10.7 (67).

“Like I said (before the game), it was just nullifying them as best we can when they’ve got the momentum and capitalising when we did, and that third quarter, that’s what let us down,” Picola United coach Rhys Woodland said.

“The first 15 or so minutes of that quarter, we had the ascendancy and just couldn’t quite put it on the scoreboard.

“We left the door ajar a bit, and they went bang bang towards the latter half of that quarter and got that break on us.

“The boys fought on well, which was good to see, but couldn’t quite get there in the end.”

A combination of missed offensive opportunities and a purple patch from the Bears’ forwards put the Blues in that third-quarter hole from which they would be unable to recover.

“A dropped mark here or one sloppy handball just turns the ball over at a crucial point,” Woodland said.

“We missed a couple of opportunities as well, but they seemed to go down there, and they made every shot a winner.

“We thought we had the legs, and we had a lot of speed, which was an advantage in our corner.

“We probably got it back in a winnable position, but they were able to close the game down and made it a very stoppage (heavy), very congested last 10 minutes, and were able to hang on.”

In his two seasons in charge, Woodland has led Picola to two seventh-placed finishes.

Despite departing at the same stage as last year, the Blues boss feels the club is set up to continue to build over the coming seasons, and finds itself in a stronger position than 12 months ago.

“There are a lot of things to take out of it, our young kids have come in leaps and bounds,” he said.

“Logan Daniel has had another great year, Matty Jorgs (Matthew Jorgensen) has been unbelievable, he’s going to be a great talent and a great player.

“Tommy Daniel and Purdo (Jacob Purdon) as well, they’ve been good fellas that have learnt and thrived within this group.

“I think the boys buying in across the whole season is going to be the big thing, but there’s no doubt that this group has a hell of a lot of potential.”

Woodland won’t be at the helm to see his side fulfil that potential, as he has elected to depart the top job to focus on family.

“I’ve given up the role for next year, which is disappointing because I’d love to go around for another few years, but we’re awaiting our first baby, which is coming late October, so family has got to come first with that one,” he said.

“I feel like we’re at a crucial stage with the footy club where we’re really building, and I think if we get a little bit more luck in the injury front and get that buy-in, I think the boys can see the potential we do have.

“Hopefully, we could recruit a couple as well, and I think we’d be right in the wheelhouse to be contending.”

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Friday, 28th April 2023

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