The Ararat Rats' A Grade earned an impressive victory against Stawell Warriors, with the club's development evident on both court and field in round 10.
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Ararat's A Grade gave one of its best performances of 2021 to defeat Stawell 49-29 at Central Park.
A Grade coach Rebecca Skrabl said the result was a consequence of a lot of hard work.
"I'm absolutely stoked. We've been working rally hard the past couple of months, so it was great to see it all come to fruition."
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When the teams met in round one on Good Friday, Stawell defeated Ararat 54-44.
Skrabl said much of the change could be attributed to greater cohesion on the court.
"We came into the season with a really young team and its basically been them settling into working with each other," she said.
"We've been really working on our flow down the court and also our defence coming out of attack."
Ararat remains in seventh place but is now just four points from a finals place.
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They face eight-placed Minyip Murtoa in round 11, and if results elsewhere go their way, a win could have them move into the top five.
In the Seniors, Ararat was narrowly defeated by Stawell 7.9 (51) to 6.10 (46).
The teams traded the lead several times early on. Midway through the second quarter, Ararat's best on ground, Nicholas Oliver, kicked a brilliant goal from a tight angle to give the Rats a five-point lead, but Stawell began to pull away from there.
Ararat almost staged a sensational comeback in the final quarter ran out of time, just one goal shy of a win.
When the two teams met in round one, Stawell had comfortably won 15.19 (109) to 5.2 (32).
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Stawell football department co-coordinator Blair Hart was impressed by the Ararats' improved performance.
"Their high pressure is what changed the game a little bit. They didn't give us much room really," he said.
"We tried to flick the ball around with lots of handballs to try and break their pressure and we couldn't. They just kept at us all day."
At the end of three-quarter time, Stawell led 5.7 (37) to 3.5 (23).
Like the A Grade, Ararat's Seniors are just four points from a finals spot, although the superior percentage of the teams above them provides an additional obstacle.
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