Yarrawonga's worrying run with injury continues with gun forward Nick Fothergill suffering a suspected broken collarbone against Lavington on Saturday, while boom recruit Dan Howe missed the game with shingles.
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The Pigeons returned to Lavington Sportsground for the first time since last year's four-point win over Albury in the grand final and while they scored a 9.13 (67) to 8.8 (56) win, the bad luck continued.
"Dan called me yesterday afternoon (Friday) and it's not the news you want to hear, but the positive is that he had symptoms on Thursday night and went to the doctor on Friday, who diagnosed (the viral infection) shingles, and it's been picked up early so the medication will kick in straight away," coach Steve Johnson said.
And Fothergill, who is regarded as the league's most reliable kick for goal, particularly under pressure, was injured in a heavy collision and taken to hospital.
The Pigeons were already missing the grand final's Did Simpson Medal winner Michael Gibbons (hamstring) and the league's 2022 Morris medallist Leigh Masters (knee) following the first round win over Wodonga.
The quartet are all A grade players, so it shows the club's tremendous depth.
The premiers led by 29 points at three-quarter time, restricting Lavington to only three goals, before the underdogs rallied to boot five majors to cut the margin to under two kicks.
"I thought we dominated the game in the first half, but didn't put the score on the board," Johnson explained.
"Credit to Lavington, they fought hard and started running over the top of us, we were drained and maybe it was on the back of last week (playing in temperatures in the low 30s), but fortunately we'd done enough to get the game in our grasp."
Hunter Frauenfelder, the younger brother of premiership player Bailey, and Geoffrey Montgomery debuted after starting in the Pigeons' under 12 ranks.
Leigh Williams, who went goalless against Wodonga, although in typical fashion unselfishly set up a handful of majors, kicked four.
The Wheeler brothers - Willie and Harry - were again outstanding in the midfield, along with ruck Lach Howe and the versatile Ryan Bruce.
Lavington doesn't possess the name players of most clubs, but it continues to punch above its weight, which isn't a surprise, given the never-say-die approach over many years.
Coolamon recruit Tim Oosterhoff continues to impress with a second four-goal haul, while Nick Paton and Conor Willis were superb, the latter with one of the goals of the round.
However, the emerging Xavier Russell was taken to hospital with a suspected broken hand.
