EDFL: Hadfield beat Coburg Districts by 70 points as Mark Sabatino boots six

Hadfield coach Brett Pitts “put the acid” on his midfield group after back-to-back losses before it put Coburg Districts to the sword on Saturday as a young gun returned with a bang.

The feeling at Hadfield in recent weeks had been one of disappointment.

But a sense of confidence has quickly returned on the back of a 14.12 (96) to 3.8 (26) drubbing of Coburg Districts in Division 2 of the EDFL.

After a big opening round win against Keilor Park, the Hawks suffered back-to-back losses which left them searching for answers.

For coach Brett Pitts, many of those surrounded his side’s work in the middle of the ground as it fell away from the “contested side of the game which Hadfield is known for”.

But on Saturday, they responded to lead their side to four points on the back of a six-goal to nil opening term.

The Hawks were led by Ryan Potter who starred on the win in a best on ground display in his return from a groin injury.

Midfielders Josh Marino, Steve Golding and Shane Lindsay were all among the best.

“I put the acid on them during the week because we needed a response,” Pitts said.

“We worked on certain parts of our game at training and it’s always pleasing when you see it come together on a Saturday.

“Our midfield had their pride dented a couple of weeks in a row so they were really eager to make up for it.

“It all started in the middle and the best part was we were able to take our chances which is something we hadn’t been doing in the past couple of weeks.”

Inside forward 50, Mark Sabatino was dominant with six majors while Connor Ahern booted three of his own.

Sabatino now has 11 goals in his last three matches.

“He’s someone who opposition sides put a lot of time into and Mark is continuing to work through that,” Pitts said.

“He’s been able to do that with his work rate which is growing every week and it was nice to see him get some reward on the scoreboard.”

Mark Sabatino finished with six goals for Hadfield. Picture: Hamish Blair

Districts were severely undermanned heading into the contest with several players named for their first senior games of the season.

Kane Moroney, Dayne Tannenberg, James Scheriani, Nikolas Dimeski, Justin Blackley and Oliver Aitken all battled hard in trying circumstances.

“We were under no illusions they had a few out but Districts is always a tough place to go no matter they’re situation,” Pitts said.

In other Division 2 results, Burnside Heights (62) got across the line in a thriller against Northern Saints (60).

Oak Park (134) were too good for Taylors Lakes (53) and Keilor Park (247) overpowered Jacana (7).

Keilor Park and Taylors Lakes will be the only game this coming weekend due to a split round.