East Geelong coach Ned Aulsebrook wasn’t shying away from the importance of the club’s 16-point win over Belmont Lions at Winter Reserve.
The 13.5 (83) to 9.13 (67) victory maintained the Eagles’ spot in the top five, but was also their first against a team that resided higher on the ladder coming into the weekend’s action.
Trailing by seven points at three-quarter time, East stormed home, outscoring the Lions 5.0 to 1.1.
“I said to the boys before the game and in the lead-up, if we drop this one and we go into the break four and four, we’re behind the pack,” Aulesbrook said.
“Everyone says it every week, it’s close this year; games like that are going to matter a lot.
“We had a close game against North and a close game against Werribee, and then Banno touched us up. I think that was probably the blip on the radar.
“But it’s nice to finally get a scalp of a team that was above us.”
Aulsebrook was pleased with how his charges adjusted at three-quarter time after allowing the Lions to have the game on their terms for an extended period.
“We knew exactly how that was going to score their goals,” he said.
“We let them do it for the first three quarters, and then it was nice to change it around in the last 30 minutes.
“There were times where we weren’t bodying up and checking their run, and they were getting goal-side.
“It was a bit frustrating, at times, for us as a coaching staff.”
With regular captain John McIntyre still sidelined with a hamstring injury, Ben Crombie has assumed the leadership, and he again showed why he is so highly rated.
“He led from the front today; he was exceptional, and he has been in that role,” Aulsebrook said.
“The little things— smothers, tackles, just scrapping it out, making it tough, tough as you can, and he probably still had his 30 (disposals).”
Also important for the Eagles were Ben Mulvahil and Caleb Ezard, who finished with five goals.
“‘Flez’ has put a serious string of games together in the front half of the year,” Aulsebrook said.
“He doesn’t always get the rewards with the goals – he did today.
“I said to him at quarter time, ‘I know we’ve got our rotations, and Zach (Smith) is kicking a lot of goals this year, but are you going to be right to stay out there for the whole game? ‘” I’d love to have you just out there for the next hour and a half”.
“And he said, ‘No worries.’ He was a huge part of our win today.”
In the absence of Ben Evans, Ben McPherson did his best inside forward 50, kicking four goals, while Christian Farchione and Jakob Steel also battled hard.
East returns to Richmond Crescent after the break for a mouth-watering match-up with Bell Post Hill, while the Lions make the trip to Inverleigh.
Werribee Centrals has extended its winning run to start the season to eight after pulling away from Inverleigh in the second half to record a 43-point win at Symal Oval.
The margin was just three points in the Centurions’ favour at the main break, but nine goals to three from that point helped the home team to a 14.18 (102) to 8.11 (59) victory.
The win maintained Centrals’ three-game buffer at the top of the ladder heading into the Interleague break.
Bryce Linehan-Cunningham returned to kick four goals for the winners, while best-on-ground Aaron Stone kicked two.
Mason Dickson, Ethan Floyd and Nathan Mayes each kicked two goals for the Hawks.
Veteran Bell Post Hill forward Nick Costello produced a vintage display, kicking six goals in an 89-point hiding of Thomson at Myers Reserve.
The second-placed Panthers jumped to a 32-point lead at quarter time, and aside from being narrowly outscored in the second quarter, were never seriously threatened by the inexperienced Tigers, romping to a 22.11 (143) to 8.6 (54) victory.
David Handley and Jed Saunders each kicked three goals for Bell Post Hill.
Paul Davis kicked three of Thomson’s goals.
Henry Hawker kicked six goals for the second consecutive week, as Bannockburn joined five other clubs with 5-3 win-loss records after hammering Geelong West by 127 points, 22.27 (159) to 4.8 (32), at Victoria Park.
Queensland recruit Jayme Rekers was among three players to kick three goals for the Tigers, along with Rob Maibaum and Sam Giles.
Stuart Goddard finished with two goals for the struggling Giants.
Cooper Vaughan kicked seven goals, and Rory Desnoy produced a dominant midfield display as North Geelong made light work of nothern suburbs rival Corio by 117 points.
The Riccardi brothers, Osca and Boston, kicked four and three goals, respectively, with veteran Luke Parker also contributing three majors in the 26.10 (166) to 7.7 (49) rout.
David Waldron and Herschelle Carr each kicked two for the Devils.
Despite the presence of former North Melbourne player Cam Delaney, Anakie was no match for Winchelsea at Eastern Reserve, with the Blues getting a handy percentage boost from a 23.13 (151) to 4.9 (33) win.
Cam Primmer was best in front of goal for Winchelsea, with his four goals taking him to 33 for the season, just five behind East Geelong’s Zac Smith in the race for the Wayne Tyquin Medal.
Delaney, whose appearance is understood to be a one-off, contributed three goals.
X: @krockfootball
