EFL: Balwyn finds its ruthless streak in a comfortable 72-point win over East Ringwood

BALWYN was back to its ruthless best after scoring a 72-point win over East Ringwood to be one of four teams with a 3-1 record.

Lachie Bain was among Balwyn’s best players. Picture: Valeriu Campan

BALWYN was back to its ruthless best on Saturday after scoring a 72-point win over East Ringwood on Saturday.

Just as rival Vermont flexed its muscle over Norwood, so too did the Tigers in a 18.13 (121) to 6.13 (49) thumping over the Roos.

Balwyn kicked 11 of the game’s first 12 goals to hold a 59-point lead by halftime before moving to a 3-1 record on the Eastern Football League Division 1 ladder.

After three narrow losses to start the season before the weekend’s blowout, East Ringwood is just one of two teams yet to taste victory in 2018.

Jeff Gobbels finished with five goals for the second consecutive week to take his season tally to 17 majors from the first four games of the season, while Yarran Jaffer-Williams (four) and Charlie Haley (three) finished as the other multiple goalkickers.

“I was really pleased with their performance, pressure was good, that was the most pleasing thing, for 90 per cent of it I thought our pressure was excellent,” Balwyn coach Rodney Eade said.

“We were able to cause turnovers and it was a good consistent performance.”

Jackson Weatherald and Marc O’Regan are due to return from injury within the next fortnight, but luckless Ayden Kennedy is set for his third knee reconstruction after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.

The Tigers have a challenging run of games leading into the interleague bye, starting with Doncaster this weekend.

“The amount of tackles we had was pleasing and it was a good consistent performance, and just the pressure, that was the most important thing,” Eade said.

“We’ve just got to get consistent the way we want to play so that is going to be a challenge each week, we’ve got some good teams coming up so that is going to be a good test for us.”