Belmont Lions co-coach Andy Walsgott has hailed his outfit’s resilience after putting one of its poorest performances during his tenure alongside Brent Vermeulen behind them to snap Bannockburn’s three-game winning streak.
The Lions arrived at Victoria Park coming off an 89-point hiding from the unbeaten Werribee Centrals, but left with their confidence renewed after a six-goal final quarter burst put the exclamation mark on a 23-point victory, 12.10 (82) to 8.11 (59).
“We’ve had a little bit of a mantra about not reading too much into the week— just moving on with it, whether it’s a really good win or a big loss,” Walsgott said.
“So that’s handy when we lose 90 points. We got back on with it, and I think resilience is a really key word.
“We fell away against Winchelsea when they challenged us, and then we fell away when Werribee challenged us.
“When Banno really challenged us like they did most of the day, I was really proud of the resilience, for sure.”
Walsgott says the Lions’ ability to hold their own in contested ball was important to the final result.
“We’ve spoken a lot about our contest and our defence, and I thought we were really good at contests, high tackle numbers, a lot of pressure around the footy,” he said.
“They’ve got an awesome, uncontested mark game, and when they get going through halfback, they access the corridor really well, and they also use the width of their ground really well.
“So, we had to cut it off at the source, so I thought our mids and our forward six defended the front half of the ground really well.
“The times they didn’t, they put us to the sword and scored really easily.
“I thought we controlled them in that area of the ground as well as we could, and we were able to build some momentum on the back of forward-half turnovers.”
Lachie Slorach was impressive in defence for the Lions, Sean Hogan played a key role in the midfield, and recruit Steve Gunther was important up forward.
Jake Butler was the only multiple-goalkicker for the visitors, contributing two majors.
Rhys Ginn and Alex Beardsell were named the Tigers’ best, with Fletcher Wilson kicking two goals.
The Lions face another challenging away game in Round 7, taking on fourth-placed Bell Post Hill at Myers Reserve.
Ollie Mayman is a certainty to return after being unavailable yesterday, while recruit Christian Farchione has nearly overcome a hamstring issue.
Bannockburn heads to All In One Services Oval to meet Corio.
Werribee Centrals have maintained their unbeaten start to the 2026 season, holding off reigning premier North Geelong by 11 points under lights at Symal Oval.
The Centurions led for the majority of the night, save for a period during the second quarter, on their way to a 12.14 (86) to 11.9 (75).
Isaac Cohen and Josh MacDonald each kicked three goals for Centrals, while for the Magpies, Luke Parker, Rory Desnoy, and Osca Riccardi contributed two apiece.
Recruit David Handley produced another eye-catching performance as Bell Post Hill overcame Winchelsea by 43 points at Myers Reserve, 21.9 (135) to 12.10 (82).
Handley kicked four goals as he shapes as a likely Whitley Medal contender.
Andrew Casey, Nick Costello, and Dylan Witney each kicked three goals.
GDFNL interleague squad member Cam Primmer managed four majors for the Blues.
An old-fashioned shootout between two key forwards highlighted the clash between Thomson and Corio at Godfrey Street.
Tigers skipper Jordan Camm kicked a career-high nine goals, while Devils dynamo Herschelle Carr finished with six, as the home team claimed a 25-point win, 16.12 (108) to 11.17 (83).
Thomson veteran Paul Davis played an important support role to Camm, finishing with three majors.
Callum Gibson also kicked three goals for Corio.
A four-goal-to-nil third quarter proved the difference as East Geelong overcame Anakie by 36 points at Auswide Plumbing & Civil Oval.
The Eagles led by just seven points at the main break, but broke the game open after the main break to register a 13.15 (93) to 9.3 (57) result.
League-leading goalkicker Zac Smith finished with three majors for East, as did Andrew Steele and Caleb Ezard.
Former Lara player Jackson Francese-Fulton, who finished with four goals, was again a standout for the Roos.
A seven-goal haul from Mason Dickson helped Inverleigh avoid becoming another victim of a club that parts ways with a coach during the season, as the Hawks pulled away in the final term to beat Geelong West by 39 points.
The game remained in the balance at three-quarter time, but a 5.5 to 2.3 final term ensured a 14.13 (97) to 8.10 (58) victory.
Nick Butters returned to kick three goals for the Giants.
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