EFL Division 1: Trent Farmer bags six as East Ringwood defeats Croydon by 82 points

A seasoned forward starred while two young guns earned high praise from the coach in the ‘Roos’ big statement on Saturday.

EAST RINGWOOD has produced an almighty statement against a top-three rival in the Eastern league’s Division 1 – led by a starring performance from a gun forward.

Third-placed Croydon was simply no match for the second-placed ‘Roos in Saturday’s 82-point result, – 21.12 (138) to 8.8 (56) – as Trent Farmer bagged six majors for the winners.

Trent Farmer of East Ringwood (left) contests with Fraser Smith of Croydon. Picture: Hamish Blair

East Ringwood senior coach Ben Osborne said dominant ball movement set the tone early as his side piled on 7.2 to 2.0 in the first term, before leads of 61 and 67 points at the main and final breaks.

Farmer has now kicked 35 goals from 11 matches to sit third on the Division 1 goalkicking table.

He wasn’t alone on Saturday, as the ‘Roos scored heavily with veteran Steve Dinnell bagging three alongside Ben Hickleton, Sam Walsh, Hannin Mundy and Marcus Kane (two).

“We were able to move the ball quickly enough to get some good looks one-on-one forward of the footy, and every time we entered the forward-50 we were either getting Trent marking or our smalls kicking goals,” Osborne said.

“Once we got to that quarter-time break, I think it gave our boys a bit of belief of how we can score heavily.

“It was a really pleasing result showing what we can do when we get both defence and offence working together.”

Joel Koger of Croydon (right) contests with Hannin Mundy of East Ringwood on Saturday. Picture: Hamish Blair

But the biggest praise was reserved for 19-year-old Jackson Weatherill, who finished best afield in a defensive role in just his third game back following a broken hand.

Osborne believes the former Eastern Ranges gun has what it takes to make the grade at VFL level.

“He’s a fantastic young talent,” Osborne said.

“He just doesn’t lose one-on-ones and reads the play so well and backs himself in one-on-one contests and tends to out-mark his opposition instead of having to spoil.

“Only his third game back, his upside is huge, and I think his football talents are beyond local football but we’ll see what he wants to do going forward.”

The match also marked the debut of young forward Zac Cileceken who provided plenty in attack, including a goal, while also assisting in the ruck.

“He’s another under-19 product, he was really good … he didn’t look out of place whatsoever and would’ve had four or five goal assists,” Osborne said.

“He loved the experience and we really put it on the boys to make the boys’ debut games something special to remember and (Saturday) was absolutely that.”

Ben Hickleton finished among East Ringwood’s best with two goals. Picture: Hamish Blair

Despite missing key names Connor Weightman (VFL) and co-captain James Belo (eye surgery), Osborne lauded the victory as one of his side’s most complete performances of the season, along with his side’s 87-point mauling of Wantirna South in Round 7.

“They’re probably the two games we’ve been able to defend really well but also hit the scoreboard,” he said.

“We know it’s there, we’ve just got to find it consistently week in, week out.

“Our best footy’s ahead of us and we want to be playing our best footy at the right time of the year.”

East Ringwood now holds an 11-1 record in second spot, while Croydon (7-5) slipped to fourth.