Casey Cardinia league review – round 2

By Mark Gullick
BEACONSFIELD claimed its first ‘Battle of the Highway’ Cup after a seven-goal final term finally broke the stalemate against Pakenham.
The Eagles ran out 31 point victors.
Despite the boggy conditions, the standard was high and there were plenty of highlights.
The match was tight in the opening three terms with margins of three, two and one separating the teams.
“We were making a lot of really basic mistakes early on in the game,” Beaconsfield coach Aussie Jones said.
“We just made some really uncharacteristic fumbles, even from our better players. They were not picking it up off the ground cleanly and even some of our inside handballs were really sloppy.”
Beaconsfield was able to correct those issues in the final term.
“Just using the football better and a couple of our forwards came into the game and had an impact,” Jones said. “We fell away and lost our concentration,” Pakenham coach Ryan Cassidy said. “It probably comes down to a few guys being down in a couple of areas and not at their best; probably concentration and the experience of the cattle out there.”
The loss left reigning premiers Pakenham winless after 2 rounds.
“We’re just not gelling as a team,” Cassidy said. “With a few new guys to the mix it’s going to take time. Obviously it’s only early and we’ve got a few things to work on, but we’ll be thereabouts.”
There were plenty of prominent individual performers on the day.
“Chris Kelf in the ruck was outstanding all day and he just continues to grind away,” Jones said. “He was a super player. Damien Szwaja played on their best player Luke Walker and just ran with him through the middle all day. He really dominated that contest for us.”
Jones also highlighted the performances of Andrew Williams, Daniel Mislicki, Glenn Penglase and Daniel Battaglin.
“Nathan Brown was our best by far again,” Cassidy said. “He really held us up down back.”
Pakenham have the bye in round three and will spend that time working on a few issues.
“We’ll work hard on the track, but we’ll also have a couple of off-field sessions together. Bonding is the key word and we’ll make sure the group sticks together.”