Nyora too strong for Yarragon

NYORA delighted its home fans, with the Saints marching in by 49 points against Yarragon, a side which got the better of them by almost five goals early this season.

“Our team’s progression has been tremendous over the past four weeks with three wins,” Nyora playing coach Dylan Heylen said.

He helped inspire his charges as one of the Saints’ best and slotted a couple of goals.

Despite the round 4 defeat by the Panthers, the Saints took on Saturday’s challenge with confidence.

“We came out strong into the wind in the first quarter,” Heylen said.

The Saints were able to apply pressure to their opponents and move the ball well into the breeze, doing so with such effectiveness they took a one-goal lead into the first break.

Nyora maintained its impressive contest work in the second term, winning plenty of the footy and capitalising on its wind advantage.

Yarragon fought back slightly in the third quarter, but was only able to trim the Saints’ advantage to 25 points heading into the final term.

Nyora steamed home with four goals to none to finish the day in style.

Scott Pugh was most damaging around the big sticks for the winning team, notching four majors, with teammate Travis Stewart playing a terrific game and booting three goals.

Yarragon was made to earn its goals, mustering just five for the match, with no Panther managing more than one.

While next week’s match will be tough against Neerim South, Heylen is looking forward to the challenge against the undefeated team, an opportunity to further gauge the Saints’ recent improvement.

Back in round 6, Neerim South won by a little over 100 points, with the Saints confident of a much-improved performance this time.

“Our aim is to win a few more before the year’s close,” Heylen said, demonstrating the increased positivity building in Nyora.