The home league fought back, but couldn’t peg back the margin in the high-standard 47-43 loss in Yarrawonga.

“Our third quarter we had a little bit of a lapse and we didn’t get the goals we needed,” O and M coach Lou Byrne said.

It wasn’t an official AFL Victoria Community Championships fixture, so both teams were able to use it as a dress rehearsal for the sport’s biggest event, the Association Championships in Melbourne.

The O and M toppled the GV in last year’s representative clash, but had only two players – Sophie Hanrahan and Ainslee O’Connell – from that game as it took an inexperienced team into the game.

Three automatic selections in defence – Lavington trio Rhiannon Dolahenty, Sarah Meredith and Kate Yensch – missed the match due to a team-mate’s wedding.

“We had some great turnovers in our defensive end in that last quarter,” Byrne said.

“I thought the girls played really well, I was really pleased with how they went.”

Hanrahan shot 23 goals from 31 attempts, while Grace Senior missed eight in landing 20.

Defender Hannah Grady won the league’s most valuable player award, with strong support from Nakita Singe at the back, while Hanrahan also featured in the best players.

Jessie Barnes was superb for the visitors, firing 35 from 40 shots.

The captain won her team’s medal, while Morgan Gibson was strong in defence.

“I think our defensive pressure all over the court (made the difference), the amount of turnovers our defenders got in that last quarter probably got us out of a bit of strife there,” GV coach Tracey Brereton said.

“Laura Ryan and  Ash Cann came on in the last half and we had Morg Gibson, I think they did a fantastic job turning the ball over.

“They (the defence) just did some clutch stuff in that last quarter that helped us keep getting the ball down there to the other end that allowed us to score.”

The GV was also missing at least three automatic selections.