By David Nagel
Sometimes it’s hard to find the words to accurately describe the ebbs and flows of a game of footy.
Thankfully, a journalist’s work was done when Beaconsfield forward Jafar Ocaa eloquently summed up Beaconsfield’s superb 40-point away win over Croydon with one passage of play at the 19-minute mark of the final term.
Receiving a handball on the point of the square at half-back, Ocaa put the foot down – burning away from his opposition and taking two bounces before smacking one through the big sticks from 60 metres out.
It was the type of gilt-edged Beaconsfield football that outplayed Croydon on Saturday and led to a 16.11(107) to 10.7(67) victory.
Too quick, too organised, too disciplined, and simply too persistent for a team that played finals football last year.
This could well be the best of the 21 games the Eagles have played in the highly-competitive Eastern Division 1.
Coach Mick Fogarty had some thinking to do in the lead up, with starting ruck Paddy Gerdan, Frankston VFL mid Mitch Szybkowski and small forward Michael Misso all unavailable from last week’s team that defeated Bayswater.
First-gamer Mitchell Summers was brought in to fill the big shoes left by Gerdan, while Nick McPherson slotted into the midfield and Miles Currie took on the medium-forward role left by Misso.
With Fogarty’s work done, it was time to cross the white line.
The Eagles looked sharp early, with Kye Rowland starting well on centre wing, while gun defender Brandon White was building the platform for a third-consecutive best-on-ground…positioning himself well and taking some crucial intercept marks in the first term.
The Eagles first two goals came in differing styles.
Damien Johnston showed pure grunt to burst his way through a contested stoppage, putting the first on the board, before an exciting chain of play from Lachie Valentine, Darren Minchington and Hayden Brough ended in a one-on-one contest with Ocaa and his opponent in the forward pocket.
Ocaa turned his Croydon defender inside out on the boundary line, before running into an open goal on a tight angle.
From the next ball up in the centre, Sam Merrick and Summers combined for a centre clearance, with Brough then providing a clever tap on to his skipper Jake Bowd who slotted the Eagles second goal in 15 seconds.
Relief-ruck Casey Wassylko then kicked a Tom Hawkins-style goal from a boundary throw in – outmuscling his taller opponent and grabbing the ball cleanly before snapping one truly off his right foot.
Sam Mackinder, who had a great game through the midfield, was then allowed far too much space at the back of a stoppage and the Eagles were off and running.
They led by 22 points – 5.1 to 1.3 at quarter time.
Croydon cut the margin to 16 points, early in the second stanza, but that would be the last time the margin would be any closer than 22 points.
Small forward Devon Smith eased his way cleverly through traffic, before Brough received from Minchington to kick one off his left.
Croydon answered with a miracle goal from the boundary, before Ocaa kicked two goals in unusual circumstances.
He out-marked his frustrated opponent to extend the lead to 27 points – 24 minutes into the second term – before kicking another before the ball had traversed back to the centre…after his opponent was yellow carded for venting his frustration.
The Eagles 33-point advantage at the major interval was quickly extended to 47 points with goals to Merrick and Brough on the run, before Croydon kicked the last three goals of the third – and the first of the final term – to cut the margin back to 25 points.
But goals to Brough and Bowd soon put the issue beyond doubt, before Ocaa signed things off in spectacular style with his exhilarating and game-describing final goal.
Ocaa backed up his four goals from last week with exactly the same haul, matched by Brough who was busy and workmanlike in his half-forward role.
Bowd’s mobility was once again dangerous up forward, with the skipper snagging three, while White continued his mesmerising start to the season.
He controlled the game from half back, hitting targets in the midfield with his laser-like left-foot, setting up many forward thrusts.
The Eagles held the ball in their forward half nicely all day, with Bowd, Brough, Smith and Matt Wilson applying plenty of pressure.
Consecutive wins for the second-placed Eagles sets up a huge clash against ladder-leaders South Belgrave at Holm Park Reserve this week, with the near-neighbours and rivals to battle it out for top spot on the ladder and the Rik ‘Crazy’ Crook Cup.
CROYDON 1.3 3.6 6.6 10.7(67)
BEACONSFIELD 5.1 9.3 11.7 16.11(107)
Croydon Goals: R. Costantino 3, R. Britton 3, J. Prior, J. Mortimer, A. Thompson, F. Smith. Best: J. Lynch, M. McKenzie, A. Ficorilli, C. Spurrell, K. Doueal, A. Carter.
Beaconsfield Goals: J. Ocaa 4, H. Brough 4, J. Bowd 3, S. Mackinder, C. Wassylko, D. Johnston, S. Merrick, D. Smith. Best: B. White, H. Coe, J. Ocaa, D. Smith, M. Wilson, H. Brough.
Other Games: South Belgrave 11.13(79) def Wantirna South 11.12(78), Mooroolbark 9.8(62) def North Ringwood 8.13(61), Lilydale 4.13(37) def by Bayswater 12.10(82), Mitcham 9.12(66) def by Montrose 11.14(80).
Ladder: South Belgrave 12, Beaconsfield, Mooroolbark, Mitcham, Montrose 8, Bayswater, Wantirna South, North Ringwood, Croydon 4, Lilydale 0.
This week: Beaconsfield (2) v South Belgrave (1), Bayswater (6) v Mooroolbark (3), Montrose (5) v Lilydale (10), North Ringwood (8) v Mitcham (4), Wantirna South (7) v Croydon (9).
