EDFL: Moonee Valley move closer to safety against Sunbury Kangaroos
In his first senior game in three years, a Moonee Valley forward returned with a bang to lead his side to a crucial win and probable EDFL Division 1 safety.
Essendon
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Don’t tell Moonee Valley coach Ian Denny his side has done enough to maintain its EDFL Division 1 status.
He wants more in the final three games.
The Fog took a big step towards ensuring they’ll play in the league’s second tier next season after powering home to a 17.14 (116) to 8.18 (66) win over last placed Sunbury Kangaroos away from home.
Denny’s side how now won their last two matches and have three wins for the season to put them two games clear of the Kangaroos.
They’ve also jumped Craigieburn on the ladder into eighth position.
“The scoreboard doesn’t reflect the win, it was a tight contest all day and we kicked away at the end,” Denny said.
“It’s a long road trip for our guys and we had some great encouragement from our supporters which helped us get over the line. When Sunbury came back into the game at halftime I reminded our players that our best had put us in a good position to win the game.
“This season we’ve lost a couple of games under a kick but Saturday showed we’ve learnt from those experiences.
“We’ve built up a bit of resilience. We targeted the last five games as a chance to build on something and we’ve made a great start.
“With a couple of home games to come hopefully we can pick up a couple of wins.”
The win was highlighted by the return of Jordan Faba who in his first senior game since 2019 finished with three goals.
Faba had not played at any level before Saturday.
Jack Newman also finished with three goals.
“Jordan wasn’t going to play this year and seeing a lot of the boys are so close he came down and has been training the past few weeks,” Denny said.
“We had a good think about whether we would bring him straight into the senior side and he helped straighten us up.
“He's got strong hands and it was nice to see him hit the scoreboard.”
Co-captain Bevan Newell was named the best player on the ground after a dominant display which included two goals as he continued on his strong recent form.
Will Agius, John O’Brien, Newman, Nicholas Sim and Gabriel Clements also impressed.
“Bev really led from the front and kicked a clutch goal for us,” Denny said.
“He got forward and took some really strong grabs. A great performance.”
Mitch Kook, Matt Welsh and Tierone Cuffe all battled hard for the Kangaroos.
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