THE Hume league suffered its second demoralising representative loss in three years after being overrun by the Ovens and King league at Jindera on Saturday.
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Holding a commanding 37-point lead at the final change, the Hume league looked destined to cruise to a comfortable victory.
But someone forgot to tell the O and K league, who mounted a spirited comeback led by Moyhu midfielder Jaimon McGeehan who snared best-on-ground honours.
The O and K swamped a tiring Hume outfit with eight of the last nine goals and snatch a thrilling 12.13 (85) to 11.13 (79) victory.
Hume league coach Josh Walker was at a loss to explain the embarrassing fade-out.
“I’m still trying to get my head around how we lost to be honest,” Walker said.
“I’m a little shocked and dismayed by the whole outcome.
“Talking to the boys after the game, there were some genuinely gutted similar to myself.
“But some were not as gutted which is disappointing.
“We have no excuses and once the O and K got a sniff they got their tails up and once they had the momentum we couldn’t stop them.”
The loss once again raised queries about the commitment and passion of clubs and players to represent the league.
Only two years ago the league suffered one of its most dirtiest days in representative football after being trounced by 97 points against the Tallangatta and District league.
Walker feared for the future of representative football in the Hume league.
“From a coaching perspective it’s really hard to get players inspired and willing to fight for the cause,” he said.
“If that was a club game and you have got a six-goal lead at the last change, you don’t give that up.
“But being a representative game, a lot of the boys just went through the motions and there wasn’t a lot of feeling out there when the opposition started to mount a comeback.
“The disappointing thing is the attitude, commitment and pride for representative football is just lacking.”
Captain Brett Doswell was the Hume’s best while Simon Hillier, Tom Keogh and Brian Lieschke also battled hard.