Football
22 April, 2026
Ararat outplay Dimboola
Ararat recorded a resounding victory over Dimboola, 28.13 (181) to 4.1 (25).
Ararat, at Alexandra Oval, had 3.2 on the score to Dimboola's 0.1 at the end of the first quarter.
By half-time, Ararat had a lead of 53 points, 10.6 (66) to 2.1 (13).
Dimboola kicked a goal in both quarter three and the last quarter, while Ararat marched on, contributing 7.6 in the quarter after half-time and 11.1 in the final term.
Dimboola coach Andrew Moore said despite the scores, he was pleased with his side's pressure in the first half.
"That is an area we want to be able to sustain during the game and be consistent during the year, but especially in the first half that was a focus going into the match, and we did that," Moore said.
"We were able to put Ararat on the back foot to handball more than they usually would, which obviously caused a fair few turnovers, which was pleasing.
"To be able to sustain that is an area we need to improve on."
After half-time, Moore said, was when Ararat stepped up a gear and their experience shone through.
"Especially some of their experienced players, and some of their guys that were younger too," he added.
Moore said there were a lot of learnings to be had from the match but it was not all doom and gloom.
"There are definitely positives we can take from it, which is pleasing, but also implement and improve on areas as the weeks go on," he said.
"It's the first time we've all played together.
"We've had changes to personnel and that's going to take a couple of weeks to get to know each other (and) get to know how each of us plays, but that's the environment and situation we're in, which is completely fine, but now we know where things are at.
"We need to be able to have a consistent output from one quarter to the next quarter."
Dimboola will also need to work on their goal-scoring opportunities if they want to kick a match-winning score, and Moore didn't deny this.
"It's something we are going to have to work with," he said.
"We are going to have to get different avenues to goal.
"It's the first game so it's going to take a while for our entire team to gel, including the forward line.
"But it was something I was open about with the players from the get-go: that there are opportunities and players will have to be flexible and versatile to play different roles.
"There's going to be ways where we have to adapt as we go but that's definitely an area we need to work with, not only in terms of entries into our forward line but also different things like running patterns etc."
Moore gave a nod to Jack Wood for his performance on Saturday.
"He has a good level head on him," Moore said.
"He plays through the midfield, played a couple of different roles through the wing, but he had an impact on the match.
"Mitch O'Donnell, who has been involved with the club for a number of years, I thought he was impactful on the ball as well, which is pleasing.
"Hobbsy (Simon Hobbs), who plays along the backline, half back line, I thought he was able to impact a bit of the play, and then I thought our recruits who came forward, Riley McLaughlin and Jake Rigoni, I thought those guys, for their first game for the club, did a good job as well."
Better players for Ararat included Ben Taylor and Brody Griffin, while goal kickers included Taylor, with seven, and Giffin, Liam Kaine and Tom Mills with four each.
For Dimboola, O'Donnell and Wood were best on ground, with four individual goal scorers in the coach himself, Ashley Clugston, Riley McLaughlin and O'Donnell.