Melton’s third-quarter blitz secures dominant win over flag rival East Point

A third-quarter barrage saw Melton take down premiership rival East Point with some home truths helping spark the Bloods to life.

Melton’s Braedan Kight celebrates a goal. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Some “home truths” sparked Melton’s resounding 43-point hammering of Ballarat league premiership rival East Point on Saturday.

Bloods coach Aaron Tymms conceded his club had got complacent before last week’s upset loss to Sunbury and needed to straighten up before finals.

His players responded in brutal fashion.

Trailing by 25 points at half-time, Melton slammed on 14 goals in one of the most damaging quarters of football seen in local footy this season.

A 74-point turnaround gave the visitors a 49-point three-quarter-time lead and they ran out 20.7 (127) to 12.12 (84) victors at Eastern Oval.

Jaycob Hickey was one of Melton’s best in the win. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Tymms was rapt with the response.

“We had a few home truths after the game at Sunbury,” he said.

“I think we’d gotten into a position where we’ve known we’re playing finals for seven or eight weeks now so we’d been a bit flat.

“A lot of things we’re doing at training and even our rehab were lacking so we had a chat about being complacent and we got back into a big week on the track.

“We spoke about competing (on Saturday), I don’t think we competed the week before – Sunbury were very good, don’t get me wrong – but we lacked that competitive spirit.”

Asked about what sparked his team’s third-quarter onslaught, Tymms was at a loss.

“I don’t know, I had about 50 people ask me what happened in the rooms at half-time,” he said.

“We were doing a lot right, I know they were in front but there were three or four goals that could have gone either way.

“We played them in 2019 down there and were 10 goals down at quarter-time but up at half-time so we knew we could score heavily and we touched on that.

“I haven’t seen a quarter of football like that, it was ridiculous.”

Melton’s Lachlan Watkins impressed on Saturday. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The result sees East Point fall from second to fourth and out of the reckoning for the double chance.

Second-placed Ballarat will play third-placed Sebastopol in the final round for the right to face Melton in the qualifying final.

Kyle Borg (three goals) was best-on-ground in win along with Lachlan Watkins, Lachlan Hickey (three goals) and Jaycob Hickey.

After losing star forward Ryan Carter and Daniel O’Leary before the game, Tymms was particularly pleased with his younger players’ output.

“Our young kids stood up – Kyle Borg was really good, Adrian Monitto and Boof Heaney.

“Kyle usually plays on the wing but we moved him into the midfield and he gave us a bit of run and spark in there.

“He was pretty potent in the middle and up forward and we think he’s going to be a really good player for Melton for years to come.

“Lachie (Hickey) was another one, he’s been quiet the last couple of weeks but got back to some of his best footy and kicked three as well.”

Melton travels to wooden-spooner Lake Wendouree in the final round of the home-and-away season.

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Tymms expects his players to decline any chance to rest with the Bloods’ reserves sitting second and putting on plenty of pressure for spots.

“To be honest, I did discuss that with a few of the boys if they want a rest but most of them just want to keep playing,” he said.

“The fact we’ve got some selection dramas at the moment with a lot of blokes in the early game playing well as well so I don’t think anyone wants to give their spot up at the moment.”

Mitch Walsh was East Point’s best in defeat, while Jake Toulmin, Harry Ganley and Clay Bilney stood tall.