THE Mallee Eagles claimed their third win of the season, lifting themselves out of the bottom two, with a 70-point win over a disappointing Koondrook-Barham at the weekend.
Billed as an opportunity for the home team to claim their first win of the season, the undermanned Raiders were instead blown off the park after quarter time, when the Eagles kicked 16 goals to three in difficult conditions.
Koondrook-Barham only have themselves to blame for the final margin blowing out, kicking inaccurately for five goals from 18 scoring shots.
However, the 18.5 (113) to 5.13 (43) result was just reward for the Eagles, who built towards this performance with encouraging performances against Woorinen, Balranald and the Cohuna Kangas the past month.
Eagles assistant coach Harry Allen said the performance showed the club was on the right path.
“It’s been one of those years where we felt like we’ve been in most games, with the exception of the Kerang game earlier in the year,” Allen said.
“But we just keep having one quarter each game where we lapse in concentration and allow our opposition to string a few goals together.
“It’s just about trying to find that consistency across four quarters and if we can do that then I’ve got no doubt we’ll be more than competitive in the back end of the season.”
Brent Macleod was the star for the Eagles, with the midfielder-forward playing predominately in attack and finishing with seven goals.
Macleod was simply unstoppable at times and combined with Andrew McDonald (three goals) to form a dominant one-two punch in attack.
Matthew Despott returned for his first match since the round 4 win over Tooleybuc-Manangatang and had an immediate impact as an intercept defender.
The Eagles dominated the midfield battle, with ruckman Angus McKenzie giving his onballers first use, especially Darcy McGregor, Harry Allen and Beau Bennett, with McGregor unlucky not to receive the three votes.
For the Raiders, Mitchell Christensen continued his fine season and must surely be leading the club’s best and fairest to this point, while youngsters Will Lake, Eli Boyd and Ash Molin showed good signs for the future and led the way for some of their more experienced teammates.
While the Eagles will have basked in their success, the reality check is just around the corner this Saturday when they host reigning premiers Kerang – the team who handed them a 161-point hiding earlier in the season – while Koondrook-Barham will be looking to regroup when they face the Cohuna Kangas.
FINAL SIREN
| KOONDROOK-BARHAM | 2.3 | 2.5 | 4.11 | 5.13 | 43 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MALLEE EAGLES | 2.0 | 7.1 | 11.2 | 18.5 | 113 |
VOTES
3 – Brent Macleod (Mallee Eagles)
2 – Darcy McGregor (Mallee Eagles)
1 – Beau Bennett (Mallee Eagles)
