In this week’s Eastland In and Under column, Media Manager Ryan Long gives you his key takeaways from the weekend ahead of the King’s Birthday Weekend.
Templestowe’s big scalp
The Dockers were sitting in fourth place coming into Round Nine this weekend with a record of 7 and 2. The club’s only two losses however were to sides above them in Waverley and Boronia, losing both by small margins.
The one thing they were looking for before heading into the bye is to take a big scalp and on Saturday, they did just that, defeating Heathmont by 32 points at H.E Parker Reserve.
A lot of the work was done through the first three quarters, winning the clearance battle, 48 to 32. The Dockers also went inside 50 an extra 21 times across the afternoon.
The side’s depth through the midfield has been a talking point this year with Beau Mitchener coming across from Lilydale in the off-season. The experienced ruckman played a big role on Saturday and their midfield group of Nagel, Giovannini and Fogarty all found plenty of the footy.
The side had a ten-point lead at Half Time, but despite the Jets pushing to get back into the game, they couldn’t cut down that margin any further with consecutive goals.
Three late goals for the Dockers before Three-Quarter Time gave them a five-goal lead that they never lost.
Dean Limbach’s second game at Templestowe went just as well as his first, another five goals, making it twelve from two weeks.
For the Jets, the mid-season bye comes at a handy time with several of the best players on the sidelines. With the likes of Colombo and Brown to still come back in, Heathmont are still in a great position to make a deep run come September.
Can’t count out Forest Hill
For the first eight rounds of the season, we had been viewing Division Four as a race for the premiership between Surrey Park and Kilsyth with Scoresby a close third.
The Zebras, however, made a big statement on Saturday, defeating Kilsyth by 44 points. It’s a massive 110-point turnaround from the first time these sides met earlier this year.
Brad Wylde and Luke Stelling both continued their strong starts to the season, in the best once more.
Up forward, O’Donoghue and Rudd combined for ten majors. What would also please Justin Scicluna is that the leading goal scorer for the side, Mitch Hanegraaf didn’t play and the side was still able to register 100 points.
After a bye this weekend, they’ll head to Scoresby to play the Magpies, with potentially a chance to leapfrog them into third spot.
As for Kilsyth, nothing to be concerned about, just their first loss of the 2023 season. They still sit a game and a half clear of third-placed Scoresby and have proven their best is strong enough.
The one thing that the upset win does do is make it very tough for Chirnside Park in fifth, who are now three full games and percentage behind.
Half-way mark revaluation.
For most sides in the league, they’ll be enjoyed a well-earned rest this weekend at what is the halfway mark of the season.
It’s a great time for reflection.
In recent years, if you’re sitting inside the top four/five/six by this time of the year, you’ll likely stay there to play finals footy.
Taking a look at last season. Twenty of the twenty-four sides that were sitting inside their top four, five or six of their division managed to hold their position to play finals.
The only sides sitting outside that went on to pinch a spot were Blackburn, Wantirna South, The Basin and Kilsyth.
It does give us a good indicator of who may be there this year when the whips are cracking.
Premier Division remains arguably the most interesting race for the finals in the second half of the year. Currently reigning premiers Noble Park and Norwood both sit outside the top six and their best form is certainly good enough to play and compete in finals.
As for the other four senior men’s divisions, difficult to see anymore the one side from each division falling out of the top four/five.
Despite the top two of Division Three creating a big buffer on the rest of the teams, it remains interesting from fourth to eighth with little separating all sides.
