GVL ǀ Gallery ǀ Benalla seals first win with spirited triumph over Swans

Downie, who was relieved of his VFL duties with Williamstown at the weekend during the bye round, virtually did as he pleased in the ruck, providing classy service to on-ballers Chris Welsh and playing coach Will Martiniello.

“Our first quarters have been pretty solid this year, it was important to be in the game at quarter-time, especially against opposition that are in a similar spot to us,” Benalla co-coach Mark McKenzie said.

The Saints built upon their lead in the second term, booting another three goals to enter the main break with a solid 26-point buffer.

A Downie set shot and a classy snap from Ben Cooke in the shadows of the third term would push the margin to 47 points; the game Benalla’s to lose from that point onwards.

But a young Swans outfit would give the Saints a serious scare in the closing stages, producing a mammoth eight-goal-to-four final quarter.

Swans young gun James Auld, coming off a debut appearance for the Murray Bushrangers, put the team on his back with four straight goals.

“Our last quarters haven’t been great, but luckily we had enough of a lead that it didn’t hurt us too much,” McKenzie said.

“We ran out of legs a little bit at the end, but it’s because we worked hard enough through the first three quarters.”

McKenzie was full of praise for his big men Downie and Josh Marchbank and for his usual suspects, who led from the front on the day.

“Tom Downie in the ruck was huge for us today, unfortunately we don’t get him every week, he showed why he’s played AFL and why he’s still playing VFL footy,” he said.

“He was just dominant and was clearly best-on-ground out there today.

“Wade King stood out for us as well, but the rest was our usual guys — the Martiniello boys, Chris Welsh and Jordan Wolff.

“The key is our younger boys are starting to stand up as well.”

McKenzie said the win was a well-deserved reward after coming close on two occasions this season, with the hope now that four points can instil a greater belief into his playing group.

“There’s been games this season where we haven’t been competitive,” he said.

“But in the games where we have competed, we’ve lost by one point and four points, it shows there’s a band of teams we can mix it with and today was one of those games.

“To get the four points is a huge reward, like every club, people are putting in a lot of effort and to get no reward after a while is demoralising.

“It’s a really good reward for the boys.”