Avondale Heights secure big win against Maribyrnong Park

Avondale Heights is off the bottom of the EDFL ladder after ending a nine-game slide. Assistant coach Guy Barbuto broke down all the emotions and key moves from Saturday.

Players, families and supporters all poured into the Avondale Heights rooms at Maribyrnong Park post-match on Saturday.

And you shouldn’t have been shocked by the scenes.

The 14.7 (91) to 11.8 (74) victory was Heights biggest of the Essendon District league season.

It moved them one game clear off the bottom of the ladder and a step closer to retaining their Premier Division status.

Heights only two wins in 2023 have come against the Lions.

Assistant coach Guy Barbuto spoke candidly about his side ending a nine-game slide.

“There’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of hard times over the last nine weeks,” he said.

“We’ve had to take a look at ourselves as a coaching group and a look as a playing group. This has been a rebuild year for the club, we sat down at the start of the season and said we were about for four or five wins which is still possible.

“Outside a handful of more experienced guys, our average age is about 19 or 20, we’re a very young group.”

The way the visitors took the four points was nothing short of brilliant.

They slammed on seven goals to one in the last 30 minutes to storm home.

Tom Russell threw himself at everything.

Young gun Silver Yousif and Connor Byrne inspired with moments of magic.

“Dave Simpson, Bailey Williamson, Jackson Robb, you could go through all of the boys and talk about a moment they had,” Barbuto said.

“Even when we were behind at three-quarter-time, we felt could run over the top of them because we did it back in Round 1. We changed a few things about our style, we got some more speed across half-forward and on the wings.

“The belief was instilled and the boys just carried that energy onto the field. It was fantastic to be part of.”

There were plenty of winners across the park for Heights including Robb who along with Matt Darby finished with three goals.

Meanwhile, Jhdara Jones and Ned Hawkins made their debut after arriving from Yarra Junction in the Outer East league before clearances closed last week.

In a pre-match interview on the club’s social media channels, Hawkins said he would be “doing little things for the win”.

Eventually that’s what he and 21 Heights teammates did.

Now they turn their attention to a huge clash with Greenvale.

“We’ve got a massive month of footy ahead of us,” Barbuto said.

“We gave up a 40-point lead to Greenvale last time, so we’ve got a point to prove.”