By Jonty Ralphsmith
Beaconsfield’s Kade De La Rue boosted his credentials in Victoria Country’s second national championships game.
De La Rue played off half-forward as the team made up of Victoria’s best regional-based prospects took on Western Australia on Friday night at the WACA.
The 181cm player averaging 22 disposals for Dandenong this season typically stood up to body contact and won 24 possessions, including four inside 50s.
Vic Country and Dandenong Stingrays co-captain Harry DeMattia also played a key hand.
After showing his speed and power from stoppage in the first game, the left-footer was able to combine those traits with neat ball-use on Friday, winning a lot of his footy forward of centre and getting it deep quickly.
The strongly-built player spent the last 15 minutes off halfback after playing exclusively as a midfielder until that point.
He laid a fist into the ball in the dying stages of the game in a huge defensive effort which helped Vic Country hold on.
Billy Wilson and Beaconsfield winger/defender Kobe Shipp were each solid for Vic Country.
Rebounding defender Wilson had his moments and stood up with a lace out pass that directly led to a goal when the match was on the line in the fourth quarter.
One watcher said that bullet to Zane Duursma had traces of Fremantle’s Hayden Young.
Jacob Grant played his first game of the championships to cap a remarkable 2023 rise.
Coming from Southern Football Netball League Division Three club Endeavour Hills, the standard of his local footy is lower than many of his Stingrays and Vic Country teammates are accustomed to.
He’s also the only one of Dandenong’s Vic Country players to not have played any Talent League last year, having not been in the program, but he made up for lost time in preseason.
The 191cm forward has impressed with his vertical leap, which allows him to play above his size and fly for marks.
Having 10 goals from eight games for Dandenong, the testing challenge of playing with and against some of Australia’s best was an excellent education piece.
First round prospect Cooper Simpson missed the match after suffering a corkie in Vic Country’s first game against South Australia, which has put the rest of his national championships carnival in doubt.
Gippsland had four representatives in action: Lachlan Smith, Wil Dawson, Duursma and Archer Reid.
Smith was in for his first game of the championships and was competitive in the ruck as he looked to impose himself on the game against strong opposite numbers.
The Drouin ruck’s selection comes after an excellent season so far with the Power, where he averages 16 hitouts, despite having to share ruck duties with fellow Vic Country big man Wil Dawson.
After spending large parts of the first game as Vic Country’s ruck, Dawson played in defence on the weekend, assisting a height-depleted backline and further demonstrating his versatility.
Dawson has also learnt the craft of playing as a key forward at talent pathway level and spent time as a pure midfielder in multiple games this year.
Inverloch-Kongwak prospect Reid rebounded from a quiet outing against South Australia, kicking the first goal of the game and being a link player on several occasions.
Duursma coolly kicked the crucial late goal from the Wilson pass.
Vic Country defeated Western Australia by five points and will face the undefeated Allies on Sunday at RSEA Park, Moorabbin.
