SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ELIMINATION FINAL
All the talk has centred on the big three this season – Narre Warren, Berwick, and Cranbourne.
And then there’s Beaconsfield, a side that has built itself into a strong position to be a genuine contender from fourth spot. They simply can’t be a team that is overlooked.
While Officer were always going to provide some form of challenge, Leigh McQuillen’s charges continued to attack and broke away with mightily impressive second and third quarters on Sunday at Edwin Flack Reserve.
Breaking a 14 year finals drought, the Kangaroos were certainly up for the occasion, and inspired by many past players of the club watching on to see them finally back on the big stage, they fought tooth and nail to get the game on their terms.
There was plenty of heat on the footy early as the Kangaroos looked for a stoppage to stoppage type game, and with Jake Ingaliso locking down on running star Jake Bowd, and gun defender James Waldon looking to negate the influence of Taylor Joyce, it was a sloppy start, and one that kept Doug Koop’s side right in the hunt.
Joyce did kick the opening goal of the game after taking a cracking contested mark, but Stephen Hawkins got the crowd going only moments later after slotting a lovely running goal, and at quarter time, all but nothing separated the two sides.
“They’re playing a defensive style of footy, boys,” McQuillen said as he eye balled his players at quarter time.
“Let’s attack, and see if they can do this for four quarters.
“We’ve had a long campaign, we’ve been going since last November, and we’ve got the run in the legs – have they got it in their legs to go with us for four quarters?”
The Eagles broke free almost instantly, finding their running game off half back, with the likes of Bailey Morrish, Matt Homfray, Riley Verbi and Peter Alier using the ball superbly to give Joyce and Nathan Langley plenty of opportunities to hit the scoreboard.
Despite big man Sean Roach playing a terrific quarter and being the dominant ruckman on the ground, the Eagles’ willingness to play on at all costs and place the opposition defence under immense pressure saw the goals tumble.
Missed tackles and turnovers were costly, and the Eagles managed to slam on four second quarter goals to open up a 23-point half time lead, despite a late Kangaroo goal.
But it was the Eagles’ third term that was the most impressive, showing a merciless attitude to the contest to slam on another five unanswered majors, drawing out to a 55 point three quarter time lead.
Impressive midfield-forward Riley Verbi kicked an absolute belter from the pocket at the Berwick College end to rub some salt into the wounds of the Kangaroos, who were unable to stem the bleeding of what loomed as a painful loss.
Knowing his side had lost the game, Doug Koop’s final address to his players was profound, urging them to just “do something” to show they belong at this club.
He can hang his hat on knowing his side fought it out, winning the last quarter by 11 points, with encouraging performances by Tyler Clark, Ingaliso, Will Hanson and young Lachlan Ward a major tick.
Beaconsfield coach Leigh McQuillen gave credit to the Kangaroos for their fight, and said they had to make some adjustments to combat their style at quarter time.
“It was an arm wrestle early which is to be expected when a club is back in finals after a long stint,” he said.
“The message at quarter time was based around our field positioning. We have spent a lot of time recently on attacking field position and our structures that we’ve spent a lot of time on to reload and bring multiple repeat forward 50 entries.
“I felt in the first quarter we weren’t coming forward enough so I reset the team in regards to our ground coverage and the aggressive attacking space we wish to take up which they adjusted and saw us become a lot more attacking.”
McQuillen was full of praise for how his side defended, and said despite having a young side, it was pleasing to see how they completely shut out the Kangaroos’ run.
“They just work so hard for each other,” he said.
“Our defensive has great continuity and they know each other so well. Even with the additions of some under 19s they’ve fit in well and adhere to the leaders back there.
I couldn’t have been more impressed by our defence which throughout the day saw eight players rotating through there.
“They’re all about ‘help support’ and reading the play early. I back them to leave their opponents and help each other.
“Again its continuity. Our injuries haven’t come in our back half so they’ve strung a number of games together this year.”
But it’s now season over for Koop’s men, and for McQuillen’s side, it may be the start of something special.
Beaconsfield 12.12 (84)
Officer 6.4 (40)
