By Tyler Lewis
Supporters of the AFL Outer East Premier Division couldn’t have asked for a better season opener than what Narre Warren and Pakenham delivered Saturday night.
While it wasn’t a heart-stopper, it was the perfect round-one match.
It had tension, clean passages of play, and left a plethora of burning questions that can only be answered in the latter stages of the season.
The beginning to the game had to be seen to be believed, with a scuffle resulting in a Magpies goal and a card, that were both immediately retracted, leaving the big crowd bemused as to what occurred.
However, order was soon restored, when a running Tom Toner kicked a splendid long range goal, despite his positional shift away from the big sticks.
Though trailing at the first interval, the Lions spread from stoppage was tremendous, making the Pies look shell-shocked on the outside at times.
Leading 3.5 to 3.3 at the first change – most of those behinds coming from wasteful long range shots – demanded his side be cleaner in the second term, to give the forwards better looks.
And despite there being more points kicked from the Pies in the second term, Dwyer’s side definitely flexed its muscles in the second stanza.
Unsurprisingly it was Maggies skipper Trent Cody who exemplified the coach’s message when he neatly collected the ball off the dewy ground to then convert a terrific long goal.
The Pies surged further ahead in the premiership term, kicking four goals to one.
And right when the game looked like it had lost its flare, the Lions rekindled some of its early stoppage dominance to send a wake-up call to the Pies in the final period.
Pakenham showed its strength on the spread from stoppage once again with a centre bounce clinic at the start of the fourth.
But as this coveted Narre Warren side does, it squashed all queries over a tight finish by sending the old-reliable into the engine room for one final stint.
The bookend of solid terms from the Lions was ultimately not enough, with the Pies eventually securing the 15.19 (109) to 10.13 (73) victory.
Narre Warren coach Shane Dwyer was pleased with what his side delivered in a tense round-one clash.
“I think the most pleasing aspect of the day was we actually played pretty good footy, as did they (Pakenham),” he said.
“They were really good, Pakky, and when they put it to us in the last quarter the boys responded really well.
“We looked like we ran out of legs a bit, it could’ve come pretty tight at the end, but they responded really well.
“I was pretty happy with the way the boys played, we definitely didn’t convert as we should’ve, but take that out we were all pretty happy with how it went.”
The Lions spread from stoppage was electrifying, and while Dwyer revealed it was something his side was aware of, he also admitted it was exciting to watch at times.
“We definitely spoke about it leading in,” he said.
“That’s exactly how they were last year when we played them on their ground, we knew that they’re young and quick, we highlighted the fact we needed to defend well on the turnover.
“They can make you look a bit slow at times, we knew that’s how they go about it, they play with a lot of dare.
“Against us we discussed teams having that nothing to lose attitude and taking risks.
“They’re (Pakenham) pretty exciting.”
Tom Toner – a once exhilarating deep forward – has made his way up the ground and though his magnet is higher on the board, he still found a way to hit the scoreboard early.
Dwyer elaborated on the positional shift for a formerly dynamic forward.
“I just think with Tommy, he is such a good user of the footy – and as dangerous as he can be up forward – we thought he might be used better up the ground where we can get the footy in his hands,” he said.
“He’s quick and can kick it a long way, so we trialled that role with him over the pre-season and he’s got better and better every week.
“We just think it’s perfect for him, he was almost probably our best player until he came off with a bit of cramp in the last quarter… he played really well.”
While the message at the first break to the main group was to clean up the entries inside 50, Dwyer also stated he had words to the midfield group, who were getting ‘torched’ by the Lions.
“Definitely after we were getting torched early, we put it on those boys a bit to try and at least get back on level terms,” he said.
“I thought Pakenham overall had us on the outside, I just felt we had some big bodies that helped us on the inside, but they were getting out a bit.
“They (Pakenham) did it again at the start of the last quarter, I think they won four centre clearances straight away, they’re a proud group (his midfielders) so they worked their way back square.
“You can’t let teams walk out of the middle, it just hurts you too much, we got a lot of blokes that go through there as well, a lot of experience, those experienced heads went in in the last 15 minutes and dragged it back our way.”
Pakenham coach Ash Green said his side was itching at the bit to get out and it showed in the first term, despite losing a key player.
“I think the guys were keen as mustard to get out there and play,” he said.
“We lost Chris Cardona in the first five minutes, he went down with an injury, that hurt us when it came to rotations later in the game, but the first quarter was really good.
“We knew they were going to come back at us and that’s what they did as the game progressed.”
Green also commented on the pace of the two sides on the outside; putting his side’s speed down to youth, while identifying a key area of improvement.
“I think we’re still fairly young too, we had a few first gamers on the weekend that were youngish,” he said.
“We don’t have a lot of older guys as people would’ve seen, but I think we need to work on our consistency.
“At times Narre were very quick as well, we made them look quick, we just have to get better with our consistency throughout the game.”
Though it starts the season with a loss, Ash Green says his Pakenham side will take a lot out of the clash with the Pies come the pointy end of the season.
“I think it’s pleasing that we got within I think three goals in the last quarter,” he said.
“Last year we got within a goal I believe, we know they’re a class act, they put the foot down when it got close to break the game open.
“They missed some easy goals too, but I think we learn a lot from that game on the weekend.”
In Division 1, meanwhile, a wayward Berwick Springs will be rueing its chances of a second successive round-one victory after blowing its chances in front of goal.
The Titans had more scoring shots than Healesville, but ultimately fell to the Bloods, 13.2 (80) to 5.13 (43) in a game of two halves.
Emerald dealt Yarra Glen a mammoth loss, winning 14.18 (102) to 3.8 (26); Seville cashed in on a weakened Belgrave outfit, thumping the Pies 20.22 (142) to 3.1 (19) and Gembrook-Cockatoo had the bye.
