East Keilor demolish premiership rival Tullamarine in statement game
East Keilor took out 14 weeks of frustration on Tullamarine on Saturday, a win coach Pat Christofi says proves his team is “not your average team”.
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East Keilor coach Pat Christofi says Saturday’s 113-point win over premiership rival Tullamarine proves the Cougars aren’t a normal team.
After a brutal display, Christofi said the club had “stewed” on its EDFL Division 1 Round 3 loss to the second-placed Demons before taking out 14 weeks of pent up frustration at Overland Reserve.
“We waited 14 weeks to redeem ourselves,” Christofi said.
“I think it sold a lot false hope to Tullamarine and others that we weren’t as good as we were but we played four quarters of solid football and the result speaks for itself.
“We kicked ourselves out of it that day and then the rain came down and they adapted to it quicker, so they deserved it.
“We stewed on it and I think we made a statement saying we’re not your average side. It was very pleasing.”
A seven goal opening term started the rout as East Keilor kept its nearest rival to just three goals in the opening three quarters.
The 26.11 (167) to 7.12 (54) victory is the Cougars’ fifth 100-point win of the campaign and third in the last four matches.
East Keilor made 11 changes from the Round 3 loss and had the luxury of resting Chris Stewart, Charles Van Der Byl, Lindon Bektash and Jye King.
Ben Caluzzi was named best on ground, while Victor Micallef, Tim Bongetti, Brandon Coletta and Joseph Palazzolo were prolific up the ground.
In his fourth game of the season Ethan Langwell booted seven goals in a dominant display up forward, relegating leading goalkickers Josh Grabowski and Dion Hill to sidekicks with four goals apiece.
“Ethan was always part of the senior mix but his body wasn’t right early. We held him back until he was ready to go,” Christofi said.
“He is one of the best swingmen in the club, I can put him wherever I want, on Saturday he capitalised and kicked seven, the week before he kicked a couple and the week before that he was in the backline.
“Ethan has one of the best football brains, it was just about getting him right physically and it’s proven to be a good call.”
The minor premiership is now all but guaranteed with four games remaining.
The Cougars only face one top four side, Airport West, in the run home but Christofi was adamant complacency would not be tolerated.
“Absolutely no risk of (taking our eye off the ball) whatsoever. We’ve got a team of professionals,” he said.
“We won’t get ahead of ourselves if that’s a question, we won’t take anyone lightly, every game we treat it the same and that mentality keeps us sharp.
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“It also creates opportunity these games leading up to the finals to have a look at a couple of other people to give us variety moving forward.
“By rotating and making changes week in and week out it keeps people on their toes, to not allow complacency.
“We’ll treat Sunbury that same as we’d treat Tullamarine.”
Tullamarine is now just a game ahead of Airport West and Westmeadows in third and fourth respectively and faces Rupertswood at Dineen Reserve on Saturday.
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