Local footy’s finally back!
Division One to Four kickstarted the Eastland 2023 season on Saturday Afternoon. Bringing back the weekly Eastland In and Under column, Media Manager Ryan Long gives you his key takeaways from the weekend that was.
1. Oakleigh District have officially arrived in the East.
Six months is a long time in football.
At the end of the 2022 Home and Away season, the Oakleigh District Football Netball Club walked off the field for the last time of the year after a 187-point loss at the hands of South Belgrave.
Their first year in the league had finished in an 0-18 season, being relegated to Division Three.
But the turnaround has been no less than phenomenal.
Two-time reigning Chandler Medallist, Blake Pearson, was signed as the playing senior coach of the club.
A massive pick up, Oakleigh also also spent a great amount of focus on recruiting players around him.
This weekend, in front of a packed house, Oakleigh District pulled through for a very famous win, their first-ever win in the Eastern Football Netball League, defeating last year’s finalist Coldstream by 22 points. Zak Bozanich starred in his first game in Oakleigh colours, making the most of his possessions up forward, kicking five majors.
The club’s midfield depth has seriously improved over the off-season with Blake Pearson joining brother Ryan Pearson and also Matthew Nicholas on ball.
Not only did their senior club win but so did the Reserves side and the Netball teams on Friday Night.
There’s a real buzz around the club right now, at all levels, giving their supporter base something to really look forward to in 2023.
Their next big task is a road trip to Donvale which will really give us a good idea of where they’re currently at.
To hear Blake Pearson after the big win, check out this weekend’s episode of the Weekend Recovery.
2. South Belgrave is the real deal.
No better way to celebrate an unfurling of a premiership than with a 72-point thumping in Round One.
South Belgrave made a big statement on the weekend, defeating North Ringwood at home in a comprehensive victory.
After an even low-scoring first quarter, the Saints of South Belgrave kicked 16 goals to five in a dominant display that proved the club hasn’t gone up just to make the numbers up.
Last year’s league best and fairest winner and leading goalkicker for Division Two, Tim Smith, starred with seven majors, even taking Mark of the Round with a hanger in the opening minutes of the last quarter.
Underrated key players through the midfield such as Cayden Black and Charlie Peters both had stellar starts to the season, providing strong delivery to the club’s tall forwards.
As dominant of a forward half set up the side has, defensively South Belgrave was just as strong, keeping North Ringwood to six goals for the afternoon with Brody Connelly staring down back.
Although South Belgrave have entered their new division with flying colours, the same can not be said for North Ringwood, with the result posing big questions.
Coming down from Premier Division after winning just two games for the year, North Ringwood had managed to keep a similar line-up to last season, having some solid form in the pre-season. Saturday’s result however would have been quite disappointing, unable to keep up with South Belgrave after the first quarter.
North Ringwood did get some value from their new recruits and returning players. Returning after a year overseas, former captain of the club Aaron Fenton, returned in good form while Patrick Rose gave the Saints a strong option up forward, the side’s only multiple goal scorer for the weekend.
They’ll be looking for a response in two weeks’ time when they host Lilydale at Quambee Reserve while South Belgrave has two blockbuster clashes against Montrose and Wantirna South in Rounds 2 and 3.
3. Who can catch Donvale and Warrandyte?
A grandstand finish with Donvale youngster Kaleb Djordevic kicking the match-winner on the siren to defeat the Bloods is the type of game we were hoping to see to kickstart our year.
However, early on, the game certainly didn’t look like it would end in a thriller as Donvale jumped Warrandyte out of the gates, leading by 40 points at the ten-minute mark of the second quarter.
Mitch Brouwer and Kyele Heagney had plenty of impact through the middle of the ground alongside experienced star James Rausa. Meanwhile, Nick Murphy proved to be a handful up forward with three first-term goals.
When new Magpie James Pell left the ground late in the second term, things opened up for the Bloods’ forward half. Phillips and Clark started to pick up where they left off last year, combining for seven goals for the afternoon.
Warrandyte was able to take control in the second half, having dominance in both the stoppages and clearances. They kicked the following ten out of fourteen goals before the two sides went goal for goal in the final term with a high free kick awarded to Djordevic just before the siren, the youngster calmly slotting through the match-winner for the Magpies.
A memorable win for the club, also celebrating David Holland’s 100th game.
The match was eerily similar to last year’s Division Three final where Donvale got out of the blocks quickly and held on to win despite a Warrandyte comeback.
With the two sides going from strength to strength over the off-season, picking up talented recruits, it poses the early question of who else in the Division can catch them?
Ferntree Gully looks to be the biggest threat to the two sides that played at our Warrandyte Reserve on Saturday.
They were one of the most dangerous sides in the second half of the season last year after a disastrous start. They’ve avoided falling into that trap again this year with a big 49-point win over Fairpark on Saturday. Recruits Lachlan Kennedy and Brayden Wright were influential, listed as the best two players in the win.
In two weeks’ time, Donvale will host Oakleigh District after their very impressive opening round win and Warrandyte will head to Coldstream which is no easy task. We’re sure to get a better read on the likes of Oakleigh, Coldstream, and Ferntree Gully when they take on the two Preliminary Finalists of last year.
We always like to make way too early assumptions, doing it here again, this was a potential Grand Final preview.
We’ll be watching closely to see who else arises as a true premiership contender.