Eagles gun for Gulls

By Mark Gullick
CRANBOURNE hosts southern neighbours Tooradin-Dalmore at Casey Fields Oval No. 2 on Saturday.
The Eagles have scored an average of 140 points in their five matches against teams out of the five, which would be concerning for the lowly placed Seagulls.
The teams are coming off contrast-ing recent form – Cranbourne accoun-ted for second-place Hampton Park by four goals, while Tooradin-Dalmore suffered a heavy defeat by sixth-ranked Narre Warren.
“It’s always a bit of a grudge match,” Cranbourne coach Doug Koop said.
“They’re just down the road and they’ve got a bit of a connection with Cranny with a few players down there at the moment. They’ve improved over the last couple of years.
“They’re becoming more competitive, probably similar to Hampton Park in that they probably just need that extra bit of experienced players and they can be right up there.”
Tooradin-Dalmore coach Beau Miller knows it’s a massive task for his chargers to get the points, but he still wants a consistent effort.
“It’s a free swing for us,” he said. “They’re one of the benchmark teams in the competition.”
Devon Meadows takes the bye this weekend before meeting Beaconsfield on 9 July at Perc Allison Oval.
A stunning seven-goal final term by Devon Meadows last Saturday, tipped it over Keysborough in the battle of the cellar-dwellers at E. G. Allen Oval.
Devon Meadows trailed by 25 points at the final break.
Panthers coach Rod Keogh was pleased with the win, saying that it would provide a much-needed lift for his players.
“It might be the light at the end of the tunnel and a good starting point for us,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get a bit of confidence out of the win. Keysborough played a good game of footy. We let ourselves down and made hard work of it in the first half. The boys kept working hard and they ran the game out well.
“Once (the players) got a bit of a sniff on the scoreboard, the ability to hit targets and those sorts of things came good. We were able to kick a few goals on the back of that.”
Classy midfielder Steve McInnes was a shining light for Devon Meadows, while consistent performers Patrick Harms, Michael Bain and Ryan Talbot featured heavily in the win.
David Velardo kicked three goals.