THE Mallee Eagles returned to the winners list in style with a dominant 40-point win over Tyntynder at the weekend.
The Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak and solidified a top-five position in the process, putting the Eagles a game clear of the Dogs in sixth place on the ladder.
It wasn’t all good news for the Eagles, though, with their senior coach Brent Sheahan having to be taken from the field with a broken leg, putting the remainder of his season in significant doubt.
But while their coach’s season now appears over, the Eagles’ season appears to be back on track. Their solid four-quarter performance set to hopefully restart their push for a finals berth, according to assistant coach Harry Allen.
“It’s been a bit of tough month, it’s fair to say,” Allen said. “Full credit to Boga, but last weekend in particular was tough – anytime you’re close to 30 points up at three-quarter-time, you’d hope to hang on and get the job done,” Allen said.
“But the boys responded (to the previous week’s loss) in a really positive way and it was probably our most complete four- quarter performance to date and against an opposition in Tyntynder that on their own home ground are always hard to beat.”
Allen was enormous for the visitors through the middle of the ground and was one of the main factors in the result, while the other big performance from an Eagles perspective was that of full-back Tom McGregor.McGregor was able to nullify the influence of Tyntynder spearhead Jason Eagle, holding him to one solitary goal for the afternoon.
The Mallee Eagles, on the other hand, proved harder to stop in front of goals, with nine individual goalkickers for the afternoon. Andrew McDonald again led the way with three majors, but the Eagles will need to continue to find other avenues to goal in the short term with the continued absence of Sam Dunstan with a broken hand.
But it was their work in the middle of the ground, particularly their midfield’s ability to win the contested ball, that impressed Allen, along with the Eagles’ capacity to break the lines off half-back.
“We really pride ourselves on our contested footy – we’ve got a number of guys in the middle that thrive on the contest which, combined with our run and carry off half-back, is where are strengths are,” Allen said.
“Unfortunately, over the last month we probably went away from that a little bit.
“For our back line to keep them goalless in the first quarter was fantastic and to keep that pressure up for the rest of game was really pleasing as well.
“We were very confident in (McGregor) to nullify Jason Eagle and his impact on the game, but I thought our back six as a whole were great – that’s where we set up from and were really settled with ‘Maple’ (Jacob Wade) and Ayden Tessari and all those guys played really well, which helped to take some of the pressure off Tom as well.
“The spread and run that we work hard on really showed.”
Tyntynder were also well served by their back six, with the Crowe brothers Cayden and Patrick among their better players, along with Elia Ware, Tate Hulland, Tom Sala and Ben Derbas.
The injury-hit Doggies will next face Lake Boga in a season-defining contest as they attempt to arrest their own three- game losing streak and resurrect their finals hopes.
VOTES
3 – Harry Allen (Mallee Eagles)
2 – Tom McGregor (Mallee Eagles)
1 – Ayden Tessari (Mallee Eagles)MATCH RESULTS
TYNTYNDER 0.2 1.3 3.4 6.6.42
MALLEE EAGLES 3.1 4.3 10.3 13.4.82GOALS – TYNTYNDER – Marcus Wattie 2, Kyle Brasser, Isaiah Bull, Samuel Bull, Jason Eagle 1.
MALLEE EAGLES – Andrew McDonald 3, Luke Doolan 2, Ethan Pinchen 2, Braidon Bennett, Josh Bibby, Callum Dickinson, Harry McGregor, Zac O’Meara, Brent Sheahan 1.BEST – TYNTYNDER – Cayden Crowe, Elia Ware, Tate Hulland, Patrick Crowe, Thomas Sala, Ben Derbas
MALLEE EAGLES – Harry Allen, Tom McGregor, Ayden Tessari, Callum Dickinson, Angus McKenzie, Darcy McGregor
