By Tyler Lewis
The plot thickens.
A win for Pakenham and a loss for Monbulk has accelerated the Lions beyond the Hawks into fifth position on the Outer East Premier Division ladder on percentage.
And without even gracing the field this weekend, the Lions have the opportunity to go a win clear inside the five.
Despite the first-half complacency checker, the Lions rallied to defeat Upwey Tecoma 12.15 (87) to 11.11 (77).
Pakenham led by just three points at quarter and half-time, before booting seven goals to one in the premiership quarter.
And while the Tigers proceeded to fire off five unanswered goals in the last term – making it 12.5 to 1.3 for the side kicking to the entrance end in the second half – there wasn’t a breathe of wind.
As the Lions were securing their seventh win of 2022, Monbulk was suffering its sixth loss of the season at the hands of Woori Yallock, 12.11 (83) to 7.18 (60).
Despite trailing by 29 points at the final change the Hawks were a sniff, before booting themselves out of the game by kicking 1.10 to the Tigers 1.4.
The wayward kicking was contagious for the Hawks; Lachlan Beecroft (0.2), Taylor Joyce (3.2),Thomas Trezise (0.2), Glenn Strachan (1.3) Nicholas Wall (0.2) and Mitch Dekker (0.2) all kicked multiple behinds across the course of the afternoon.
The loss for Monbulk now creates an intriguing round of football.
Monbulk will make the highly-publicised trip to Wandin this Saturday, while Pakenham has the bye.
With the Hawks heading in huge underdogs, and the bye offering four points despite not actually recording a win, the likelihood of Pakenham surging a win clear of Monbulk without playing is realistic.
While the result each week for Officer is almost irrelevant, the development, adaptability and ticker is paramount.
The Roos showed it all in spades in Saturday’s slog with Wandin, giving the Dogs an almighty scare.
The home side trailed by one point at both quarter and half-time, and just nine points at the final change, before running out of legs in the final term to go down 10.8 (68) to 13.13 (81).
Skipper Ben O’Loughlin has been insistent on improving the way his side moves the footy, particularly out of the back six.
In recent weeks he has praised that growth and Saturday’s improved performance was no exception.
“The way we moved the ball, it was a lot better,” O’Loughlin revealed.
“The defence was good, but it was just the way we moved the footy out of defence, we tried to spread the ground a bit more and use the most of the ground.
“We tried to use the corridor a bit more (as well).”
The Roos are under no illusion they’re missing a presence in defence to stop the bustling key-forwards, conceding hauls of over 10 in successive performances (Pakenham and Woori Yallock).
And while many would’ve expected Wandin’s Clinton Johnson to continue that trend, O’Loughlin is confident his group monopolised Johnson at times, before he capitalised on minimal opportunities.
“We did match them for most of it, Troy (Tharle) sort of thought it was one that got away,” he said.
“Their big key forward (Clinton Johnson), he kicked six straight from six kicks, I don’t think he missed a shot, so to have a gun forward like that at your disposal is pretty good, pretty handy.
“It was good for the young blokes to show they can match it with these stronger teams in the Outer East.”
O’Loughlin has fronted up to his players after some disappointing performances this season, and although they didn’t get the win on Saturday, his message after the game was a much easier discussion.
“It was more so that it shows the young blokes that we’re going in the right direction with the way we’re playing at the moment,” he said of his message post game.
“You know they could’ve stepped back for the end of the year, but they’re trying to build each week towards playing better footy.
“Whether that’s pressure, getting the skills up, getting to training, just making sure we’re heading in the same direction – because there is good young talent there.
“We had another first-gamer on the weekend, Riley Perkins, he didn’t look out of sorts at all… which was really handy.
“And Hutto (Ryan Hutton) it was his second game and he played really well as well, they’ve come a long way in a short time.”
Narre Warren, meanwhile, has yet again flexed its already exceedingly obvious muscles, with a thrashing win over Mt Evelyn.
The Magpies kicked truly on 26 occasions, while the Rovers could only muster two majors – both of which came in the second term.
The Pies 26.22 (178) to 2.5 (17) victory is the Pies fifth 100-point win of the season.
