With an eye on the finals, Hawks belt Tigers
WITH an eye on the looming Bendigo Bank BFNL finals, Eaglehawk crushed a young Kyneton side by 134 points at Canterbury Park on Saturday.
Skipper Brady Herdman bagged seven goals, key playmaker Kain Robins ran and carried as if he hadn’t missed a minute of his enforced nine-week injury layoff and nailed four majors, while midfielders Troy Coates, Josh Gitsham, Kane Bloxsidge and Josh Bowe kept pumping the ball forward.
It was a fitting way to mark on-baller Damien Lock’s 100th match with the club as the Hawks posted a 25.15 (165) to 5.1 (31) victory.
The Tigers sprang a big surprise before the match got underway. Coach Paul Houston, 40, was a last minute addition to the interchange bench when Wayne Foster and Pioneers’ pair Haydn Smith and Ben Saliba withdrew from the selected side on Saturday morning.
Houston ran onto Canterbury Park with 11 minutes to go in the third quarter.
On a blustery and freezing day, the Hawks raced to a 56-point lead by half-time. Linton Jacobs, Coates and Herdman were on target for Eaglehawk in the opening term with Rory Healy the only Tiger able to reply with a toe-poke off the ground from the town end goal square.
Kyneton suffered a huge blow when full-forward Jimmy Condos left the ground in the first term with a right thumb injury. He had strapping on the hand and did not return.
The Hawks added 6.5 in the second quarter with Josh Bowe (2), Elliott Massina and Herdman all converting. Again, Healy was the only Tiger goalscorer as he raced into the Simpson’s Road end, avoiding the huge puddle in the goal square, to get boot to ball.
After half-time Herdman took his personal goal tally to seven with three in the third and another two in the last. Robins added three majors with his second of the second term a gem, as he weaved around three would-be Tiger tacklers.
Meanwhile Rhys Ellis nailed two goals for Kyneton. Dylan Callaway and Shaun Neeson combined to land the ball with Ellis in the Tigers’ best passage of play for the day. Ellis’ high shot drifted through with the wind at the town end.
Towards three quarter-time Ellis also used the wind cleverly to land the Tigers’ fourth goal.
The two clubs played out time in the last stanza with the Hawks adding 7.3.
The hard-running Coates took his goal tally to three with a hooked shot over his shoulder, Gareth Crawford stole an attempted Kyneton handball to run in for a major while Cameron Milward landed the goal-of-the-day, after the final siren, with a 65 metre torpedo bomb which cleared the fence.
Tiger coach Houston said it was decided to rest Condos after his right thumb popped out. “We’ll be trying for four wins in a row at home (next Saturday) so the Maryborough game is a big one for us,” he said.
Hawks’ coach Derrick Filo said it was great to see Herdman in top form but just as importantly it was heartening to see the midfield group in blistering touch.
“They’ve been solid without taking the next step. Last week was a start for them and this week they were a bit better and hopefully next week they will be better again,” he said.
Lock said his Eaglehawk career started in 1994 with one senior game so to rack up the ton had “been a fair while coming after being in and out of the club for a while plus a year at Peel Thunder (in W.A.).”
“We’re starting to get our best side on the park now at Eaglehawk and even though we’ve struggled to put together any continuity during the year we believe we’ll be in good shape come finals time,” he said.
EAGLEHAWK 4.4 10.9 18.12 25.15 (165)
KYNETON 1.1 2.1 4.1 5.1 (31)
GOALS Eaglehawk: Brady Herdman 7, Kain Robins 4, Troy Coates 3, Linton Jacobs 2, Josh Bowe 2, Elliott Massina 2, Damien Lock, Josh Gitsham, Jarrod Findlay, Cameron Milward, Gareth Crawford. Kyneton: Rory Healy 2, Rhys Ellis 2, Shaun Neeson.
BEST Eaglehawk: Brady Herdman (best afield), Troy Coates, Josh Bowe, Kane Bloxsidge, Josh Gitsham, Tim Hill, Kain Robins, Gareth Crawford. Kyneton: Leigh Cook, Rhys Ellis, Will Gunter, Beau Hopkins, Shaun Neeson, Rory Healy.
VOTES in the Bendigo Advertiser Player of the Year award
5: Brady Herdman (Eaglehawk)
4: Troy Coates (Eaglehawk)
3: Josh Bowe (Eaglehawk)
2: Kane Bloxsidge (Eaglehawk)
1: Josh Gitsham (Eaglehawk)
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