EFNL 2022: East Burwood unbeaten after two rounds in Division 2

It’s been an unblemished start for East Burwood in a higher division. Here’s how it’s managed to make the flawless jump.

East Burwood has sent a message to its critics with an unbeaten start to the season.

The Rams have had no worries starting life in the Eastern league’s Division 2 so far, posting two convincing wins in the opening fortnight.

They’ve accounted for Knox (51 points) and Templestowe (57 points) after accepting the Eastern league’s offer of promotion at the end of last season.

The club finished in second spot in Division 3 in 2021 – Warrandyte had finished on top and was offered promotion first but declined the invitation.

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It was the second promotion for the Rams in two years, after finishing runner-up in 2019 in Division 4 and requesting a move.

East Burwood senior coach Stuart Wynd said it was imperative his side started the season well to justify the jump.

“It’s a bit of an unknown going up, we weren’t too sure how we were going to go,” he said.

“I mentioned that before Round 1 that we needed to justify going up – we didn’t want to be a side that goes up and comes straight back down again.

“There’s quite a bit of outside noise, giving us a bit of stick … there’s a bit of justification by playing well early (and) I think there’d be quite a few people ready to give us a whack if we had lost our first couple of games.”

The Rams celebrate their second consecutive win this season on Saturday. Picture: Supplied

The Rams have fielded a new-look side with 11 new players in the opening two rounds, most of which are around the 20-year-old mark.

Wynd said they’ve “certainly made a difference in the first two weeks”.

Among those is Chris Spiteri, who kicked three goals on debut against the Dockers on Saturday.

Another is emerging tall Jaymie Kempson who has featured in the best in consecutive weeks. He’s helped fill the void in the absence of outgoing talls Jai Middleton (Wangaratta) and Jarrod Stafford (Stawell).

“Kempson’s been sensational for us,” Wynd said.

“He’s mainly a forward but we’ve been using him as our back-up ruckman – we’re not a tall team and we’re still lacking a bit of height … a couple of our bigger guys are out injured at the moment.

“He’s been really competitive and a great young kid who loves playing footy, only a 19-year-old as well.”

East Burwood coach Stuart Wynd. Picture: Steve Tanner

Wynd also pointed to the experienced crew’s output, with the likes of defender Eddie Rixton and midfielders Jason Kennedy and Matt Mariani among those leading the charge.

“Our senior core group are playing good footy as well,” he said.

“We lost eight senior players out of last year’s team so that was a real concern and we lost a lot of our height.

“We’ve brought in a heap of kids, they’re keen and have made a huge difference to our team.”

East Burwood hosts Mulgrave in Round 3 after the Easter break.