Fast starting Eagles dominate

Shaun Marusic drives the ball forward during his dynamic performance. 181544 Pictures: ROB CAREW

By Nick Creely

SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE

REVIEW – ROUND 7

Last week Cranbourne were the fast finishers, this week they are the fast starters.

The second placed Eagles continued on with their blistering form, this time against an Officer side that is struggling to make an impact against the competition heavyweights.

While it was always a long shot that the Kangaroos would trump an Eagles team fresh off an unbelievable comeback win over Berwick, it was expected that the home side could stick with Steve O’Brien’s group for at least three quarters.

The Eagles followed on from last week’s domination by absolutely peppering the Kangaroos defence with repeat entries, and despite some narrow misses, a ripping goal from Ryan Jones got the visitors off to an ominous start.

Despite a classy goal by Blair Allan, the Eagles were merciless, slamming on a further five goals to be leading by 36-points at quarter time.

With Marc Holt (five goals) back to his absolute best and debutant Nick Russo (two goals) impressing, the Eagles put on a clinic with their speed, opening up a 63-point half time lead.

“He (Holt) was dominant, I think he kicked 5.6, so he could have really filled his boots – he kept working at it and got his rewards at the end of the day,” Cranbourne coach Steve O’Brien said of Holt’s performance.

He would have had close to 15 marks, so it was a really dominant display from the big fella.”

Worryingly for the Kangaroos, the Eagles have been a dominant second half side throughout 2018 so far, but fought admirably to kick six goals in the third term before being held goalless in the final term in a bitterly disappointing last quarter.

And it doesn’t make for pretty reading from a Kangaroo perspective. Against sides currently ahead of them on the SEFNL ladder, they have conceded an average of almost 148 points at an average losing margin of 100. Against sides below them, they have conceded just 57.75 points at an average winning margin of almost 46 points.

Youngster Chris Ramac led the way for a bunch of inexperienced Eagles, and looks like a long term leader for the club, while Shaun Marusic was a presence throughout in what was his best game of the season.

For the Kangaroos, Ben Tivendale continues to lead from the front, while Tyler Clark and Blair Allan battled hard.

O’Brien said a fast start was pivotal after finishing with such a flurry last week against Berwick.

“It was probably our key focus point during the week, to be honest – we wanted to get off to a fast start, and try and take the game away from Officer as early as possible,” he said.

“We were able to get the game on our terms very early in the piece, and that started in the midfield, they played some accountable footy, and we were able to impact the scoreboard.”

But the only negative is a 30 minute lapse in the third quarter, in which the Kangaroos managed to kick six goals to one. O’Brien said it could have been for a number of factors.

“You’ve got to give Officer some credit, but we had a bit of a mental lapse – we had a pretty young side in there, and maybe they were smelling roses a bit, but we did what we had to do, and we re-adjusted with a six goal final quarter,” he said.

And as for his Eagles – who sit second ahead of a clash against Doveton on Saturday – O’Brien believes they will continue to improve as they learn together.

“We’ve got to keep building, and keep working on the things that are important to us – the game plan is coming together nicely, and we’ve given opportunities to young players – we’ve had seven debutants and another on the weekend, so we’re given kids some chances which is really pleasing for us,” he said.

Officer 8.3 (51)

Cranbourne 18.18 (126)