By Nick Creely
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 15
The importance of a tough tussle on the eve of finals is invaluable for a side gearing up for a tilt at a premiership.
Pakenham were never going to just hand Cranbourne the four points at Toomuc Reserve on Saturday, 13.6 (84) to 7.8 (50).
The Eagles were made to work against an Ash Green side that has improved out of sight this season, but the class of Marc Holt (four goals) and Nathan Gardiner (three) down forward had the visitors hold sway and made the most of their opportunities after being starved early.
After an even, contested opening half, the Eagles managed to get the break in the third term, booting away to a 26-point three quarter time lead after finally finding their run and dare that makes them one of the most exciting teams in the competition.
With Anthony Vella once again eye catching, and the likes of young defender Corey Ellison, Jordan Bertand and Brandon Wapshott providing some class with ball in hands, Eagles coach Steve O’Brien was pleased to notch up the four points.
“They make you earn it – they play a good, contested brand of football, so they don’t give it to you easy,” he said.
“It was a good, tough contest.”
Heading into a final round clash against Beaconsfield with no change possible on the ladder and a final against Berwick looming, O’Brien said confidence is pretty high at Casey Fields.
“Our results over the course of the year have proven that our game stacks up, and it’s capable of beating anybody,” he said.
“We’re pretty confident heading into finals. We haven’t changed too much all year – one of our strengths all year has been our spread of goal kickers, so as long as that can continue, we’ll kick a challenging score.”
On a promising afternoon from the Lions, Stephen Morey was once again superb in the backline, while Jeconiah Peni played a terrific game through the middle.
Down at Holm Park Reserve, Beaconsfield continued to build a solid platform of form before finals with a massive win over Tooradin-Dalmore, 16.12 (108) to 4.2 (26).
Off the back of four goal hauls to young star Riley Verbi and spearhead Nathan Langley, as well as impressive cameos by Jesse Patullo (three goals) and Sam Merrick (three), the Eagles found plenty of avenues to goal, and worked the ball around expertly to control the game from the outset.
Eagles coach Leigh McQuillen handed over the coaching gig to assistant coach Luke Young for the weekend in what was an impressive coaching debut, and was pleased with his side’s performance.
“We feel like ever since being hit by a number of injuries and the loss to Pakenham, we’ve been able to play a solid brand of football,” McQuillen said.
“We’re coming good at the right time of the year.
“We are certainly gaining momentum so we’ll keep pushing to improve and along the way and add in the returning players as we see fit. Those returning from injury will be ready to play.”
McQuillen pointed to his younger players as the most impressive aspect of the 82 point win, and praised them for seizing the opportunity as senior players continue to work back from injury.
“Along the way we are bringing up a number of under 19s in Mitch Smith, Luke Bettio, Devon Smith, Jack Docherty, Jesse Patullo and more recently Sam Merrick,” he said.
“They’re all going to be great senior footballers for our club moving forward. With so many out it’s given these guys the chance and they certainly haven’t looked out of place.
“So our biggest asset right now is confidence in our youth and the fact that with players returning selection will be tough.”
McQuillen said that his side was wary of the Seagulls, who have made a habit out of shocking teams and catching them off guard.
“If you give them a start they can rattle sides. We certainly wanted to take them on with our ground and ball movement,” he said.
“There’s a clear difference between our home grounds size. We knew we had a lot of speed and hard running players out there so you play to your strengths.
“The inside stoppage work of Damien Johnson and Brad Homfray set us up as did the run and class of Verbi, Bromley and Bowd.
“They’re a physical side Tooradin and we knew we had to atone for our poor showing a few weeks prior in similar conditions against Pakenham.
“Credit to the Lions they were too good for us that day but we certainly made that a focus pre-game to mentally prepare our side.”
Narre Warren, meanwhile, expectedly brushed aside Officer at Kalora Park, 19.15 (129) to 6.6 (42).
With stars in Trent Shinners, Brad Scalzo and leading goal kicker Nick Scanlon all missing, Matt Shinners’ side was certainly different, but no less effective.
Pushing forward, Mitch Cox simply starred, running rings around the Kangaroos’ defence to snare six majors in a best afield display. He was supported by Trent Cody, Nathan Foote and Aaron Wilson, who kicked seven between them as the Magpies took the game away after holding a 34 point quarter time lead.
The Kangaroos fought back nicely to level out the second term, but the class of the Magpies’ ball winners in Josh Tonna, and also Dylan Quirk, ensured they would coast through the second half with little trouble.
There was, however, a moment to smile about for Kangaroos supporters, with skipper Matt Clarke producing one of the goals of the year, kicking the ball out of mid-air from 35 out, in a freakish effort.
Defender James Waldon was once again a shining light on a tough day to be an Officer defender, while usual suspects in Tyler Clark, Sean Roach and Stephen Heppel all battled hard.
And finally, Berwick had an incredible 54 shots on goal to coast to a 222 point win over Doveton, 35.19 (229) to 1.1 (7).
The Doves are battling to make it to the end of the year, and came face to face with a Wickers side hell bent on continuing their strong form.
The Wickers gave no look in to the Doves from the opening bounce, leading by 106 at half time before launching a frightening 19 goal second half.
All but securing second spot on the table, the Wickers didn’t take the foot off even slightly, with the Doves not scoring until the last ten minutes of the game with a Matt Stapleton major.
Harry Money surged to the top of the competition leading goal kicker award with nine goals, while the Wickers had seven multiple goal kickers and 12 individual goal kickers.
Luke Sheppard and Madi Andrews ran rampant and racked up plenty of the footy, while Stapleton and young star Mitch Cotter did everything in their power to help the Doves.
