Hampden league players impact in final Vic Country football game

Charlie McKinnon (North Warrnambool Eagles), Sam Nicklaus (Warrnambool) and Archie Taylor (Cobden) played in the 14.14 (98) to 11.7 (73) loss to Western Australia on the Gold Coast on Friday.

Loader was pleased with his players' response following their 73-point defeat against South Australia on Tuesday.

"Great response after what was a slack day on Tuesday when we played well below par," he told The Standard.

"A lot of players really spiked and showed why they're at this level, so it was good.

"It was actually a really good game of footy it was probably only in the last 10 minutes we got rolled. So I think at the 14 or 15 minute mark of the last quarter there was only about 10 or eight points in it.

"Our boys just ran out of steam late and they kicked three late goals."

Versatile tall McKinnon hit the scoreboard after a move to the forward line while Taylor found his feet in the middle.

"Charlie ended up kicking two or three goals," Loader said.

"He played a totally different role, he played full-forward all day whereas he had been full-back. That was great to see.

"Archie Taylor, after having a really quiet game on Tuesday, was a lot better today.

"He played back in the midfield and was really influential in the first half of the game, so that was good."

Vic Country finished with one win and two losses from its three games, with its sole victory an impressive win against Vic Metro in round one.

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