A shooting masterclass from leading goaler Alysha de Koeyer has confirmed Dederang-Mount Beauty’s place in a second consecutive A grade finals series after a 65-36 home win against Wodonga Saints on Saturday. De Koeyer was on fire under the ring, shooting 52 goals at 83.87 per cent accuracy, bringing her season total to 519 for the year. The Bombers, who now sit four games and an insurmountable percentage differential ahead of sixth-placed Yackandandah with only four rounds to go, can now start to plan their finals lead-in before they reacquaint themselves with the famed courts at Sandy Creek. With utility Mandy Fairbairn out for the season and defender Dani Beer unavailable last Saturday, the team has been able to test the depth of their squad in the last month or so. In what was a club highlight, DMB junior-turned-senior netballer Eva Chalmers made her A grade debut and played two of a possible four quarters in wing attack, in what was her second match for the day after a full game earlier in the afternoon. Dederang-Mount Beauty’s A grade coach Alex Dyde suggested while it’s not ideal to have key players missing from the squad, giving court time to the next generation of Bombers, like Chalmers, is critical. “Eva made her debut for two quarters in the attacking end and did well,” Dyde said. “Eva and her family have been around the club for the best part of a decade – her dad is the footy ops manager and life member, her brother is the seniors footy coach, so it was a special moment for her and her family to step on for A grade. “She’s been playing seniors since she was 16 but was a standout from a young age in juniors too.” A tougher challenge awaits Dederang-Mount Beauty (fifth), who will visit Beechworth (seventh) this Saturday. “We expect Beechworth will put up a good fight, they held strong for the first half when we played them last, so we know we need to put our best foot forward,” Dyde said. Despite a promising start, DMB’s senior football side were unable to record their first win for the season after going down to the Wodonga Saints by 87 points. A three goal to two opening term and quarter time lead for the Bombers could not be capitalised - the seniors were only able to kick two goals in the final three quarters in the 5.5 (35) to 17.20 (122) defeat. Kallum Tyson and Isaac Sullivan both kicked two goals, while captain Jacob Ozolins chimed in with one. In reserve grade football, the Bombers trailed by only three points at three quarter time but lost by 27 points, 7.9 (51) to 11.12 (78).
