By: Hayden Tilbrook
NUNAWADING snapped the longest-standing winless streak in the Eastern Football League as the club won its opening game of the 2019 season to emotion-charged scenes on Saturday.
The Lions started strong and led at every break, running out 15.16 (106) to 10.14 (74) winners, queueing delirium at Koonung Reserve.
Nunawading celebrates after the game. PHOTO: Davis Harrigan Photography
Nunawading senior coach Paul Beven spoke of the meaning of the victory to the club and the celebrations that followed on Saturday night.
“It was a fantastic night, and just a great day for the club as a whole,” Beven said.
The victorious coach knew his side would start to see results go their way if they could begin sustaining their efforts for an entire match.
“I said that a couple of times, if we string quarters together and play a whole game then there’s no reason why we can’t win games of footy,” Beven said.
“We’ve been really patchy – last year we were patchy in games and we just couldn’t put it together and yesterday we managed to put the four quarters together and at the end of the day got the result.”
Despite the club’s winless streak totalling 1,386 days, Beven could feel pre-game that something special was about to unfold on Saturday.
“To be honest, I probably got [the vibe that the players were up for it] at the start of the game,” he said.
“I asked all the boys to be there early and they all got there prior to the reserves game just so we could have a chat as a club prior to the reserves starting.
“You could just sort of see in everyone’s eyes that they were really switched on for the day.”
The win didn’t come without nervous moments for the coach though, as Kilsyth at stages looked poised to snatch the game from the desperate Lions.
“[I couldn’t relax until] probably with about four minutes to go,” Beven said.
“Kilsyth came pretty hard in the first 10 minutes and they kicked the first three, but to the boys’ credit, whilst in the past they probably would’ve just doubled under the pressure, they actually just got a bit of composure.
“That’s a couple of the older guys that we’ve brought in as well, just being able to settle that down.
“Probably that last three or four minutes, we sort of knew we were alright so we just enjoyed it a little bit.”
Nunawading captain Jordan Winter agreed with his coach, adding that the victory carried more significance to the club than just winning a game of football.
“We’ve been through a fair bit in the last six months, with two deaths at the club recently,” Winter said.
“It was huge for overall group morale – to get a win not just in football, but to get a win in life too.”
Winter echoed his coach’s praise for the club’s new recruits.
“We’ve brought in a group of really level-headed guys and everyone’s on the same page. No-one thinks they’re a superstar,” he said.
One of the Lions’ youngest recruits, Philip Schulz, provided an instant spark up forward, slotting eight goals in his Nunawading debut.
Having made the move across from Mount Waverley for the 2019 season, Winter said Schulz had fit right in at the club.
“Philip’s a good kid, he wants to go ahead in leaps and bounds and he was great on Saturday,” Winter said.
“He definitely had his Weeties in the morning.”
Nunawading will travel to Coldstream Reserve in Round 2 to face a Cougars team that ran out four-goal winners over Surrey Park in Round 1.
