By Justin Schwarze
OUTER EAST DIVISION 1
The round-one result over Yea will fill Pakenham with confidence, but every game is a new adventure with Powelltown paying Toomuc Reserve a visit this week.
The Lions roared in their opening Division 1 victory, but there was plenty to build on after the first half.
Pakenham allowed quality looks inside 50 to Yea on multiple occasions, with poor positioning, decision making and ball movement leaking scores for its opponent.
At Toomuc Reserve, a notoriously quick deck, the Lions will need to transition the ball better into great users Bailey Stiles, Josh Haggar and Sam Cachia, who can find the goals.
Through the middle, Tanner Stanton and Luke Ryan will need to win the ball like they did on Saturday, helping their side retain possession and link-up moving forward.
The Towners only won two games all of last year, but enter round two with a 1-0 record.
Their recruits had a massive impact, with Josh Cowan making his debut for Powelltown, booting five goals.
Cooper Ferries, coming across from Black Rock, kicked two of his own and Dean Roy enjoyed a bag of four majors.
The Pakenham backline will have its hands full, but if they can avoid costly turnovers and shift the ball efficiently and effectively through the guts, it will provide the Lions with momentum.
Senior coach Justin Stanton takes pride in his side’s fitness and ability to run out games, so Pakenham as hosts will look to build on a hopeful scoreboard advantage and ride it to roll over the Towners in crunch time, just as it did in Yea.
