EFL 2018: Balwyn two games outside the top five with five rounds remaining after a 38-point loss against Rowville

WHEN former AFL coach Rodney Eade was named coach of suburban powerhouse Balwyn it seemed a match made in heaven. But with five rounds to go the club is in danger of missing finals for the first time in 23 years.

Rodney Eade, senior coach of Balwyn addresses his players during quarter time at Balwyn Park in Melbourne, Saturday, June 29, 2018. EFL (Div 1): Balwyn v Montrose. (AAP Image/James Ross) NO ARCHIVING

COACHING great Rodney Eade arrived at Balwyn to much fanfare.

A former Sydney, Western Bulldogs and Gold Coast coach taking charge of a suburban powerhouse seemed a match made in heaven.

But with five games left in the Eastern Football League season, Eade’s team is staring at its first season without finals since 1995.

Eade’s senior AFL coaching career started in 1996, the same year Balwyn started its enviable run of consecutive finals appearances.

His club is two games and percentage outside the top five, having won five premierships in the past 11 years.

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The last time it missed out on a finals berth, Balwyn played in a different competition – the Southern Football League.

Eade will have to draw on his 377 games of top-level experience if he is to save the Tigers’ blushes when he returns from an overseas wedding.

“We’re still a chance but we’re relying on other teams now to help us out,” his assistant Chris Barry said after a 38-point loss to Rowville on Saturday.

“We’ll keep pushing on, try and win every game from here on in and with a bit of luck we can still make it.”

In Balwyn’s favour is that it only has one more game against a top-five side (Blackburn in Round 16) after next weekend’s bye, with assignments against East Ringwood, Norwood, Knox and Noble Park to close the season.

Lachie Bain dishes off a handball. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Despite being without star defender Kris Pendlebury on Saturday, who suffered a calf injury at training on Thursday night, Balwyn led at the first two changes and held a five-point lead at halftime.

But the Tigers were kept to just one goal in the second half as the Hawks enjoyed a 14.9 (93) to 8.7 (55) victory.

Balwyn’s only major after halftime came midway through the final quarter when Jarryd Chirgwin kicked a consolation goal.

Barry said his side was found wanting after halftime.

“They came out to play a bit harder than us and we didn’t respond,” he said.

“We thought we matched them, if not had a bit of ascendancy but had been a bit wasteful with the footy and could have been a little bit further in front (at halftime).”

The win was Rowville’s fourth on the trot and lifted it to a 9-4 record and two games ahead of Norwood and seventh-placed Balwyn, while the Tigers sit two matches outside the top five behind Doncaster, the Hawks and Blackburn.