Devon Meadows’ Jesse Dehey boots his side forward during the Panthers’ 14-point victory over Cranbourne at Glover Reserve on Saturday. Picture: Luke Plummer.By Brad Kingsbury
DEVON MEADOWS’ first victory in almost two years on Saturday sparked an outpouring of raw emotion that engulfed the Glover Reserve.
There were cheers and tears from men, women and children as they swarmed onto the ground to congratulate the equally thrilled Panther players who came from behind to down traditional rivals Cranbourne by 14 points.
Panthers coach Steve O’Brien said later that in over 20 years that he had been involved in the game as a player and coach, he had never seen or been a part of anything like the amazing post-match scenes.
The Panthers won the coveted McAleese-Flanigan Cup with the victory.
Devon Meadows’ new-look side led by ex-Essendon big man Aaron Henneman was obviously fitter and stronger than the rabble that went through 2007 without a win, but Cranbourne also looked a slicker unit with the addition of Aboriginal star Ray George in attack.
Henneman quickly showed he would become a key to the Panthers attack with two big marks and a goal at centre half forward.
The Eagles led by 11 points at the final change and the last quarter was a ripper.
The Panthers kicked to the pavilion end and proved the benefit of a tough pre-season by running the game out better than their tiring opponent, despite having only the bare 18 men available thanks to player attrition during the day.
After a tense battle Devon Meadows broke free with enigmatic forward Matt Davey becoming the hero, booting two goals late in the term to see his side to a famous and emotional victory.
The scenes afterwards resembled premiership celebrations and O’Brien said that passion was the reason football was such a great game.
“It was incredible-I can’t really describe it, you had to be there,” he said.
“There were tears everywhere and it was so good for so many good people who have dedicated themselves to the club for a long time.”
Hampton Park suffered a 14-goal loss to Doveton with depth at the Booth Reserve looking to have suffered after several key players departed in the off-season.
The loss of key forwards took its toll on the Redbacks with new coach Jason Caples forced to fill one of the key positions in attack, booting two early goals.
From the opening bounce it was obvious that the Doves were switched on with gun rover Michael Henry dominating in and under the packs and Callum Pattie, Aaron McIver and Daryl Thomas enjoying their return to the line up after a season away.
Giant Hampton Park ruck combination of Shane Moffatt and Michael Sikora battled manfully in the centre bounces, but Doveton captain Clint Wilson won the points around the ground and gave his side first use of the ball more often than not.
Peter Greenstreet and Ryan Hendy were good targets in attack for the Doves, booting 10 goals between them with five majors also to Justin Hill.
Despite the home ground advantage, Hampton Park looked out of sorts and Caples said it came down to the fact that Doveton players had put in a bigger and better pre-season.
Caples said that the positives included the form of under 18 captain Luke Nunan in his senior debut and nuggety on-baller Joe Bertuna, but the loss to injury of playmaker Jack Besley early in the game created a hole in the midfield that could not be filled.
He added that he was also unhappy with the on-field approach of some players and that it needed to improve.
The ‘Battle of the Creek’ between old rivals Beaconsfield and Berwick resulted in a nail-biting five-point victory to the Eagles.
The Eagles were triumphant thanks to match-winning goal to gun recruit Andrew Williams in a tense final term, after they trailed by 13 points at the start of the last quarter.
The Eagles proved the fitter side and ran the game out better on the big Edwin Flack Reserve.
The Wickers team included Darwin recruits Warren Berto, Stewart Carr, Ben AhMat, Mark McLean and exciting new ‘speed machine’ James Puautjimi, all of whom arrived in Melbourne only last week.
Eagles Williams and Kris Fletcher were damaging in the midfield, while Luke McConnell proved a difficult match-up, finishing with five goals at full forward.
The result was sealed when Williams spun out of a pack at half forward and snapped his fourth major in superb fashion, at the 25-minute mark of the last quarter.
Predictions of a tough season for Tooradin looked to be right on the money after 2007 premiers, Narre Warren, toyed with the Seagulls at Reid Oval on Saturday.
The Magpies won the one-sided match by 151 points in a canter, with 12 players contributing to their 27-goal tally against the obviously depleted Seagulls.
New coaches Matt Shinners and Cristian O’Brien had vastly different debuts with Shinners afforded the luxury of swapping players around and trying different tactics, while O’Brien just attempted to stop the bleeding.
An 11-goal to none first term set the scene with Magpie premiership defender Danny Brewster leading the way in his new role at centre-half forward and Michael Collins dominating.
Former Dandenong Stingray Lee Boyle filled the key centre half back position while 17-year-olds Aaron Mills and Chris Potalej also created good impressions in their first serious senior hit-outs.
The traffic was all one-way with the Seagulls kept goalless for the first half and only managing three majors for the afternoon.
Positives for Tooradin included the effort of new big man Steve Arvanitis in the ruck, together with the good early form of Jason Boocock and Jack Cole, but it was a day that O’Brien would rather forget in the end.
