THE return of Shaun Harrison has given the Mallee Eagles another spike in confidence as they attempt to end their 29 year premiership drought.
In just his second game for the season and his first since round 1, Harrison was among Mallee’s better players in the Eagles 154-point thrashing of Balranald on Saturday.
Playing as a high half forward, Harrison gave the Eagles another avenue to score and earned praise from co-coach Harry Allen after the 26.19 (175) to 3.3 (21) result.
“It was his first game back since round 1 so we didn’t want to throw him on-ball, although the played a bit on-ball over the previous weeks coming back through the reserves,” Allen said post-match.
“He played high half forward, which is a role he’ll probably play more going forward.
“With the injuries that he’s had, if we can get him back into the side and he can contribute, that’s just a bonus.
“We were pretty pumped after the game because we know what he can bring, albeit against a bit of a weaker opposition, but it was pretty exciting knowing he’s back in the squad ahead of our finals campaign.”
The Eagles dominated from start to finish, with key forwards Darcy Hourigan and Andrew Mead-Harding both kicking six goals for the winners.
Both were among the Eagles better players, along with Brady Fordham, whose ball use and class rose in the absence of key players Zac O’Meara, Beau Bennett, Troy Anderson and Ethan Pinchen.
The only other negative for the Eagles was an injury to star midfielder Darcy McGregor, who left the ground in the opening minutes of the game and took no further part.
With the Eagles going into the match as red-hot favourites, Allen was pleased with the way his team responded from their four-point loss to Cohuna seven days earlier
“It was just a matter of making sure we did the basics well and didn’t get ahead of ourself,” Allen said.
“We kept it pretty simple yesterday and we just covered a couple bases that we’ve focused on all year, but hopefully we can finish off the home-and-away season strong and take some momentum into the finals.
“I guess the other thing was that we had a fair few out by the same token, so it was also good to give a couple of the kids another taste of senior footy, like Max Parsons and Charlie Kingwill.
“It was good to know that we have guys capable of coming into the team and play a role, and if we do that then the results look after themselves.”
“I think the way we moved the ball was pretty pleasing.
“A couple of weeks before we played Swan Hill in a game we knew we were probably going to win, but we played a bit of a frantic game, just because we had the ball so much.
“So we didn’t want to fall into that trap of playing a different brand of footy despite who we were playing, we wanted to make sure we were still playing the percentages and staying composed with ball in hand and we didn’t have to go at million miles an hour.”
Also among the Eagles better players was Brent Macleod and Allen himself, with Kingwill also named as a key contributor in the win.
For Balranald, key ball winner Cody Henness continued his strong season, along with Jack Salau, Ian Fuller and Tom Salau, while youngsters Sebastian Papa and Cruz Jolliffe also impressed.
The Eagles will finish the home-and-away season against Tyntynder at the Alan Garden Reserve this weekend, while Balranald will host Kerang in the final match for both clubs in 2025.
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Mallee Eagles | 5.6 | 11.7 | 19.12 | 26.19 | 175 |
| Balranald | 1.2 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 21 |
VOTES
3 – Brady Fordham (Mallee Eagles)
2 – Shaun Harrison (Mallee Eagles)
1 – Darcy Hourigan (Mallee Eagles)
