{"id":22200,"date":"2016-06-13T18:37:44","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T08:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afldraftcentral.com.au\/?p=22200"},"modified":"2016-06-13T18:37:44","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T08:37:44","slug":"metro-win-thriller-over-arch-rivals-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2016\/06\/13\/metro-win-thriller-over-arch-rivals-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Metro win thriller over arch rivals Country"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_22201\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22201\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/afldraftcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/vm.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-22201\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22201\" src=\"https:\/\/afldraftcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/vm.jpg\" alt=\"Vic Metro win a thriller over Vic Country. (Photo: TAC Cup) \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22201\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vic Metro win a thriller over Vic Country. (Photo: TAC Cup)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Vic Metro<\/strong> claimed their first win over cross state rivals <strong>Vic Country<\/strong> for the first time since 2013, with a thrilling come from behind victory at Simonds Stadium on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Trailing by 20-points at three-quarter time, Metro kicked the first four goals to hit the front, before a late fightback from Country gave them the lead with two minutes to play.<\/p>\n<p>Western Jets midfielder <strong>Daniel Venables<\/strong> stepped up marking inside 50, converting the chance to steal the dramatic victory in front of a strong crowd at Geelong that saw <a href=\"https:\/\/afldraftcentral.com.au\/event\/22055\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Metro finish winners 14.10 (94) to 14.8 (92).<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The match ebbed and flowed throughout the day with 22 out of the 28 goals kicked towards the southern end of <strong>Simonds Stadium<\/strong>, despite no apparent breeze.<\/p>\n<p>Bushrangers midfielder <strong>Will Brodie<\/strong> (29 disposals, seven clearances) stood out, despite visibly being hampered by a knee issue which he suffered last weekend against <strong>Western Australia<\/strong>. Brodie didn&#8217;t cover the ground as well as he has in the past, but the soreness didn&#8217;t stop him from throwing his body around at the contest and was Country&#8217;s best.<\/p>\n<p>Rebel <strong>Hugh McCluggage<\/strong> kicked two opening quarter goals, finishing the match with 25 disposals and three goals backing up Brodie&#8217;s work in the middle.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">McCluggage (#17) and Brodie (#7) listening hard at the final break. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NABAFLU18s?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NABAFLU18s<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/02vHJSzlwL\">pic.twitter.com\/02vHJSzlwL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Barrels (@Uncle_Barrels) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Uncle_Barrels\/status\/742203419184631808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Trailing at half time by three-points, Country small forward <strong>Ben Ainsworth<\/strong> returned from suspension kicking\u00a0four goals in the third term but it was Metro co-captain <strong>Andrew McGrath<\/strong> who shut him down, keeping him to a single handball for the remainder of the contest.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did Sandringham Dragons flanker McGrath keep Ainsworth quiet, his rebound and run &amp; carry off half back was excellent setting up two pivotal Metro goals in the last quarter.<\/p>\n<p>One passage saw McGrath run the ball from deep in defence, 100m forward with the ball ending with <strong>Dylan Clarke<\/strong> kicking Metro&#8217;s third for the final term.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Superb passage from Andy McGrath showing his run &amp; carry ability from defense, setting up Dylan Clarke goal. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fH38a6PRBF\">pic.twitter.com\/fH38a6PRBF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matt Balmer (@MattBalmer7) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattBalmer7\/status\/742331662323699713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>McGrath finished with 23 disposals, whilst Collingwood Father\/Son prospect <strong>Callum Brown<\/strong> (27 disposals, eight clearances and one goal) was also solid in the midfield for Metro.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dylan Clarke<\/strong> (26 disposals, six clearances and two goals) was one of Metro&#8217;s best for the contest, with a consistent effort across all four quarters. Clarke is the brother of North Melbourne&#8217;s Ryan, and is averaging 28 disposals so far in the TAC Cup this season.<\/p>\n<p>Half forward<strong> Tim Taranto<\/strong> was also another Dragon who performed well, kicking three goals from his 18 disposals.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Chargers forward <strong>Nick Larkey<\/strong> kicked the opening goal for the contest, much to the enjoyment of his Trinity Grammar mates\u00a0who had ventured down to Geelong to support. Many of the strong crowd was full of voice as the sides traded goals late in the last term.<\/p>\n<p>Metro midfielder <strong>Oliver Florent<\/strong> begun the game at a fast pace with a strong half, before a shin issue left him on crutches for the remainder of the contest and he will be in doubt for their game on Sunday against <strong>South Australia<\/strong>. Country\u00a0themselves were one down on the bench, with <strong>Tom Jok<\/strong> suffering a collarbone injury.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the loss, Country bottom agers <strong>James Worpel<\/strong> and <strong>Lochie O&#8217;Brien<\/strong>\u00a0each had 16 disposals neither looking out of place running through the midfield.<\/p>\n<p>The result leaves Country with a winless start to the championship, which will make it tough for them to claim back-to-back Under 18 titles.<\/p>\n<p>They will have a week to collect their thoughts, before they meet the currently undefeated <strong>South\u00a0Australian<\/strong> outfit while Metro have their only\u00a0interstate\u00a0game with a travel to <strong>South Australia<\/strong> on Sunday at AAMI Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>VIC COUNTRY 5.2 \u00a0 6.3 \u00a0 12.4 \u00a0 14.8 (92)<br \/>\n<strong>VIC METRO \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a01.4 \u00a0 6.6 \u00a0 \u00a0 8.8 \u00a0 14.10 (94)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>GOALS:<\/strong><br \/>\nVic Country: Ainsworth 4, McCluggage 3, Drew 2, Poholke 2, Worpel, Battle, Blake<br \/>\nVic Metro: Taranto 3, Clarke 2, Larkey 2, Brown, Bunker, Gallucci, Duman, Venables, Lynch, Brown<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matt Balmer&#8217;s BEST:<\/strong><br \/>\nVic Country: Brodie, McCluggage, Worpel, Ainsworth, Poholke<br \/>\nVic Metro: McGrath, Clarke, Brown, Taranto, Gallucci<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Votes from us&#8230;<br \/>5. McGrath <br \/>4. Taranto <br \/>3. Blythe<br \/>2. Worpel<br \/>1. Clarke<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rookie Me Central (@RookieMeCentral) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RookieMeCentral\/status\/742212284424982528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Watch the last three minutes of Vic Metro\u2019s stunning comeback victory over Vic Country. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qp3KWkjfXF\">https:\/\/t.co\/qp3KWkjfXF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; AFL Draft (@AFLDraft) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AFLDraft\/status\/742285532428787712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vic Metro claimed their first win over cross state rivals Vic Country for the first time since 2013, with a thrilling come from behind victory at Simonds Stadium on Monday. Trailing by 20-points at three-quarter time, Metro kicked the first four goals to hit the front, before a late fightback from Country gave them the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,279,8],"tags":[257,414,163,630,705,891,90,61,1359,1398,1705,234,1799,1816,1865,1879,1880,1921,1929],"class_list":["post-22200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","category-headlines","category-news","tag-andrew-mcgrath","tag-ben-ainsworth","tag-callum-brown","tag-daniel-venables","tag-dylan-clarke","tag-hugh-mccluggage","tag-james-worpel","tag-lochie-obrien","tag-nick-larkey","tag-oliver-florent","tag-simonds-stadium","tag-south-australia","tag-tim-taranto","tag-tom-jok","tag-under-18-championships","tag-vic-country","tag-vic-metro","tag-western-australia","tag-will-brodie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}