EDFL: Tullamarine beat West Coburg in a thriller behind Shaun McKernan’s four goals

Tullamarine coach David Connell was forced to move the magnets as his side came from behind to beat West Coburg with a former AFL forward at the centre of the action.

Tullamarine is showing it has plenty of tricks up it sleeve after an unbeaten start to the season.

The Demons along with Airport West are the only two unbeaten sides in Division 2 of the EDFL — although on Saturday it could have only be the latter who had a perfect record.

After trailing by 19 points at the final change, the Demons launched a stellar comeback to secure a thrilling 11.6 (72) to 9.13 (67) win over West Coburg who were left to rue inaccuracy in front of goal.

At three-quarter-time, Tullamarine coach David Connell elected to make several small changes to his side’s structure including the move of Matthew O’Dwyer into the middle of the ground.

Shaun McKernan was again an impressive performer for Tullamarine. Photo: Aaron Cook.

Meanwhile, Shaun McKernan — who led the way with four goals — was moved deep inside forward with James Vistarini “at his feet”.

It meant there was a much smaller line-up across half-forward.

“We had to try and get more control of the footy,” Connell said.

“We had been turning it over way too much and West were scoring goals off halfback. Matt did a fantastic job when he went into the middle and won three out of the first four clearance for the quarter.

“Then we had Shaun up forward marking everything that came his way, Vistarini took his chances as well.

“Once we got the momentum, I thought it was going to be difficult for the opposition to stop us but that’s the case in most situations.”

James Vistarini played a key role in Tullamarine's comeback. Photo: Aaron Cook.

Connell said his side were often “giving one handball too many” at critical times which saw a break down in their ball movement especially during the third term.

West Coburg kicked five goals to one in the third.

“We want old school — one handball, one kick,” he said.

“I wanted the boys to limit how long they had the ball in our hands. And we saw just how much our forwards benefited that from movement in the last (quarter).”

Ruckman Adam Scott was named among the better players for Tullamarine. Photo: Aaron Cook.

In his return to the side, Oliver Klemm played a “defensive role” on West star Abdi Fitaax going on to be named in his side’s better players.

“Abdi is a really good player and it was our intention to have Oli negate him,” Connell said.

“I thought he did that really well for three quarters in particular. I thought Fitaax was still a solid contributor for his side but we were able to limit his influence.

“Oli was fantastic in the way he sacrificed his own game.”

Adam Bartrop, Adam Scott and Kirk Lang were also among the better players for Tulla.

Meanwhile for West Coburg, Patrick McCallum, Kyle Ring, Maurice Contreras, Perry Patrikios, Mitch Miller and Joseph Drake were all impressive.