By Connor Schmidtke
East Burwood kicked off their 2022 campaign in style on Saturday, securing the four points with a thumping 51-point win over Knox.
Recording 29 scoring shots to Knox’s 13, the Rams were able to dominate nearly every facet of the game on route to victory.
Perhaps the most impressive stat of all from Saturday’s opener, was that Knox were kept goalless in the first half as East Burwood stormed out of the gates to open up a 50-point lead at the main break.
Despite the recent promotions, East Burwood’s Senior Coach, Stuart Wynd said there was no added pressure heading into their round one clash.
“There wasn’t any sort of added pressure.
“Round one is always important, you always want to win, but it’s a long season and a tough competition.
“We just wanted to justify getting put up, putting ourselves up into the division without winning the premiership again.
“We wanted to justify that by putting in a good performance and being competitive, which I think we obviously did.”
The Rams starting 22 looked far different in round one to its line-up for their final game in 2021, with a host of debutants gaining their chance at the top level after strong preseasons.
Despite not adding any major names from higher divisions over the offseason, Wynd was particularly happy with the commitment from younger players who were stepping up to senior football
“I think there was eight new players in our side from our last game last year against Warrandyte, so we’ve had a huge turnover of players and brought in a lot of young kids.
“You never get a second first game, so we wanted to make sure that those guys remember their first game for being a really special one, and we were able to do that.”
Throughout their 51-point victory over Knox on the weekend, the East Burwood midfield remained a dominant force.
Wynd was particularly impressed with their pressure through the middle of the ground, forcing scrappy forward entries from Knox and a lack of ball movement throughout the four quarters.
“I thought our pressure around the stoppages was pretty good.
“We wanted to focus on being aggressive with our tackling, and that sort of kick started it for us.
“I thought every-time they got the ball, we weren’t allowing them too much time and space and that was a really pleasing aspect of our game.”
East Burwood’s focus now shifts to an intriguing round two clash, against Templestowe this Saturday afternoon.
Templestowe were another big winner from round one, dispatching Oakleigh District to the tune of 104 points in an old-fashioned belting.
The Dockers are another side with plenty of upside, after a disappointing 2021 campaign which saw just the one victory all season.
In what should prove to be a good early season measuring point for both sides, East Burwood will look to continue their hot start to the season and prove to everyone, that they are the real deal in 2022.