By Matt Fotia
Local football means a lot to all of us and here at the EFNL we’re committed to giving you the analysis it deserves in the weekly Eastland In and Under column, where Media Manager Matt Fotia gives you his three key takeaways from the weekend that was.
- Waverley Weapons
Last season the Waverley Blues came in talking a big game, and this season there was still an underlying sense of confidence coming out of Mt Waverley Reserve.
After nine games you certainly see why.
The Blues are sitting well clear on top of the Division Three ladder, albeit with two extra games played, and are well worth the top billing, swatting aside opponents ever since their Round One loss to Warrandyte, with Donvale the latest victim to fall at the feet of the 2019 Division Three Runners Up.
Waverley are a different kettle of fish to a lot of teams that are currently reaping rewards across the EFNL. Not in the manner of their victories, Silvan and South Belgrave could claim to be more dominant, but in the way they go about it.
Waverley’s forward 50 is rife with firepower. Star recruit Josh Williamson has 16 goals from his last two hit outs and is a class above the Division, without being rude to his counterparts.
The former Tasmanian State League forward showed all his footballing IQ on the weekend, often outsmarting countless opponents, despite their more impressive physical attributes, on his way to best on ground honours. Williamson is one of five Blues players to have kicked more than 10 goals this season.
There are a couple of things that make it easy for Williamson and his friends.
First, Waverley are quick.
Quick with their decision making, quick across the turf and quick by hand.
On numerous occasions on Saturday, they cut through the Donvale pressure with a chain of handballs, eventually getting it to the outnumber, who had both metres of space ahead of him and plenty of support alongside him.
Tom Langford has been giving his side the freedom to surge forward from defensive 50 should they see fit.
Second, the Blues make sure there is space around the top of the forward 50 for the likes of Williamson, Tonn Steele and Omar Mohammad to lead into. They kick a lot of goals from the 30-40 metre range, preferring a set shot on goal from that distance to a stoppage or ‘chaos ball’ deep inside their forward arc.
Against Coldstream, at the time the second placed side in the Division, Waverley had 36 shallow inside 50 entries, meaning close to 75% of the time the Blues were looking for a hit up lead when going inside 50, as opposed to getting it in deep.
To make matters worse for their Division Three rivals, co-skipper and 2021 leading goal kicker Matt Perry is still set to return. Perry is a more traditional power forward and will no doubt plant himself deep to ensure the Blues have all bases covered going forward.
Waverley are by no means unbeatable. An aggressive gameplan like their one does leave them susceptible to being hurt on the turnover.
But your pressure and system would want to be seamless to force a turnover in the first place.
- Beating them on the Inside
One of the sides who are travelling just as nicely as Waverley are South Belgrave, coincidentally the side that beat the Blues in the 2019 Grand Final, who are also sitting comfortable on top of the ladder, with an equally impressive forward line.
Only two sides have gotten within four goals of South Belgrave this year, Boronia, and Mulgrave. The Hawks had the lead with less than five minutes to go on Saturday and the Lions upset the Saints back in Round Five.
Something these two teams do well is win the inside ball.
Boronia have long been a very strong contested ball side and have added to their midfield stocks over the off-season, with former Eastern Ranges Best and Fairest winner Mitch Mellis and returning ruckman Josh Hannon, whilst Mulgrave placed a big focus on their contested work over the off-season under Ryan Webster and with the likes of Jaxon Gervasoni, Connor Tilyard, Dean Siakoulis, James McGivern and Jack Davidson, they have a impressive midfield brigade themselves.
On Saturday the Hawks were big winners around the stoppages, winning the clearances by seven, with an even bigger differential at ball ups, and had 23 more contested possessions. Mellis led the way with 13 clearances and 15 tackles to boot, whilst Ryan White had nine clearances of his own.
South Belgrave’s forward half of Smith, Garner, Garner, Brown, and Odermatt (when he returns) is as good as it gets in almost every division.
But with the loss of Liam Kidd and a few others injury, there seems to be a chink in South Belgrave’s armour after all.
- Good for Footy
Football is flourishing in the EFNL at the moment.
There are plenty of enticing match ups each weekend and all five divisions have their own intriguing storylines.
In Premier Division Rowville’s surge to top dog has taken everyone by surprise and the question hanging over them has now changed from ‘how long will this last?’, to ‘when will they lose?’.
Don’t forget the intrigue down the bottom of the ladder, as for all their good work, Berwick still sit just two points ahead of North Ringwood.
Five sides are separated by percentage in Division One, as one of the greatest finals races unfolds before our eyes, with the likes of Lilydale and Bayswater emerging as not only genuine contenders, but front runners on recent form, whilst the breakaway pairing of Mooroolbark and East Ringwood are setting us up for a few mouth-watering clashes in the second half of the season.
Mulgrave would be stealing a lot more headlines across the league if it wasn’t for Rowville’s whirlwind start to the year. The Lions have gone from an 0-3 start to sit comfortably within in the five, with claims to be being the number two seed, while in Division Three the race for fourth is interesting, but it’s the battle to stay afloat that draws more attention, as Ferntree Gully remain rooted to the bottom, despite losing just one game by over 18 points this season.
The spectre of a Gully resurgence will have the likes of Scoresby and Glen Waverley very worried as the double drop looms large.
Silvan’s dominance might make Division Four look boring on the surface but sift a little deeper and you’ll find another enthralling season.
Kilsyth have slid under the radar to be a genuine top two threat, whilst Croydon North MLOC’s rise could see a couple of pre-season finals certainties miss out coming the backend of August.
The above are just some of the engaging narratives unfolding across the league. Everywhere you look there is something of note, something of interest, something to get lost in.
And God knows we’ve needed it after the last two winters we’ve been through.
