Sunbury recruits, youngsters impress in season-opening win over Darley

Sunbury’s list has been hard hit since the start of the year but the Lions showed no signs of weakness as they kicked off the Ballarat league season with a win over Darley.

Ben Guthrie in action for Sunbury. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Sunbury put a tough two months behind it to claim a comfortable 29-point win over Darley on Saturday.

The Lions had been hit hard since the start of the year but turned in an impressive performance in their Ballarat Football League season opener at Darley Park.

Star midfielder Lachie Bramble was snapped up by Hawthorn and Mitch Conn moved to Sydney, while inter-league ruckman Jayden Eales tore his ACL training with Port Melbourne.

The club has also lost prime movers Dylan and Jack Landt and key defender Grant Valles since the end of 2019.

However, the likes of Daniel Toman, Haydn Ross and Tyson Lever have stepped in and proved immediate value in the 14.15 (99) to 11.4 (70) win.

Sunbury coach Travis Hodgson. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“It’s hard to win at Darley Park, Sunbury haven’t won there since 2016. It’s a good start to the year,” Sunbury coach Travis Hodgson said.

“Our high profile additions had the desired impact for sure.

“We’re a young side, we took about a dozen players 21-22 or younger, so the thing we were rapt with was we batted all the way down.

“Where our list sat in February we couldn’t have been happier … since then Mitch Conn has moved to Sydney, Lachie Bramble has gone to Hawthorn and Jayden Eales got invited down to Port Melbourne and did his ACL.

“We’ve got a lot of good juniors that that’s created opportunity for and you could see that on Saturday, the kids were really good.

“We still expect to play finals, we want to win a final, but we understand our list has changed a little bit in the last eight weeks.”

After a tight opening term, Sunbury kicked away in the second quarter to establish a 23-point lead at half-time.

The margin ballooned out to 50 point by the end of the third term and only some late Darley goals saved the home team from a disaster.

Alec Goodson in action for Sunbury. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Standing in for Eales, Joel Muir impressed in the ruck in his senior debut while Calder Cannons-listed young gun Josh Goater kicked two goals in his first senior appearance.

Emerging defender Jack Hannett was named the Lions’ best for his role at full-back on Darley forward Ben Said.

“Jack played about four senior games (in 2019) and was on the up before he broke the scaphoid in his wrist and was out for the rest of the season,” Hodgson said.

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“We see positive things for Jack and he played full-back on one of their recruit’s Ben Said, he’s dangerous but Jack won a large amount of one-on-ones and gave us a lot of drive.”

After winning 13 games in 2019 – equal with minor premier East Point – Sunbury crashed out of the finals race in an elimination final loss to Melton.

The Lions will get a chance to redeem themselves on Saturday when they host the Bloods at Clarke Oval.

Darley travel to local rival Bacchus Marsh with both teams looking for a first win following the Cobras’ 26-point loss to Ballarat.