Sport
17 April, 2025
Demons dominate in opening round
LISMORE Derrinallum has opened its season with a thumping 125-point win over Great Western at Derrinallum.
Demons co-coach Alec Wiltshire said he didn’t expect a win of that size.
“It was quite surprising. We had a pretty good pre-season but in no way expected that kind of result,” he said.
“A six goal first quarter set the tone.
“We stuck to our structures and played well for all four quarters; everything we tried came off well.”
Austin Humphrey, a recruit from Geelong Football League club St Josephs, kicked five goals on his Demon debut playing at centre half forward.
Goal kicking midfielder Blake Scott also put through five.
The pair were named as Lismore Derrinallum’s best, alongside Henry Walsh; the ruckman earning high praise from Wiltshire.
“Henry was absolutely brilliant, I'm not sure he lost a ruck contest, he was fantastic all around the ground,” he said.
Alongside Austin Humphrey, another five players made their senior debut for Lismore Derrinallum, including co-coach Angus Grant, who most recently played at Kangaroo Flat, Riley Wandel who has landed from West Australian club Gibson, Byron Loader who has crossed from Woorndoo Mortlake and the McIntosh brothers, Noah, who has previously played at Lake Wendouree and Learmonth, and Max.
Wiltshire said it was hard to pick six best players.
“We genuinely had 21 contributors,” he said.
But the Demons mentor added “we are not getting ahead of ourselves, after the next three games we will know where we are at given the teams we will play”.
Wiltshire gave a pat on the back to the Derrinallum Recreation Reserve committee for the high quality state of the ground on Saturday.
“A lot of grounds are struggling with the dry conditions at the moment but those guys have put a lot of work in and presented the oval perfectly,” he said.
In the reserves, it was also a huge win for the Demons to the tune of 145 points.
Junior player Xavier Coutts kicked six goals, while Tyla Reid, Brock Reid and Jack Sanders were named best players.
In the under 16.5 football, Great Western won by 22 points, with Jackson Lyddy, Xavier Coutts and Campbell Greig the Demons best.
In senior netball, Great Western won the A grade game 36-20 (Sarah Kelly best on court for the Demons).
Stella Horspole was named as best player for Lismore Derrinallum’s B grade team in its 27-22 goal loss.
The C grade Demons won 17-10, with Tiarna Evans named as best.
Junior netball saw Lismore Derrinallum win 33-17 in the under 18s, with Great Western getting the points in the under 15s and under 13s, winning those matches 39-5 and 20-0 respectively.
Best players for the Demons went to Georgia Somerville in the under 18s, Lacey Grundman in the under 15s and Caitlyn Mulraney in the under 13s.