EFNL 2024: Oakleigh District farewells leading goalkicker, signs league medallist

Almost 60 goals need to be replaced at the Eastern Division 3 club this off-season, while it has bolstered the midfield with a league medallist.

EFNL 2024: Oakleigh District forward Mark Stevens (left) has departed after a leading 58 goals this year. Picture: Davis Harrigan

Oakleigh District will get to work on replacing its leading goalkicker this off-season – but it has bolstered its engine room with a league medallist.

The Oaks have waved goodbye to key forward Mark Stevens who has linked with Southern outfit Lyndale, after the spearhead fired off 58 majors in 18 matches this season.

It’s a similar predicament to the one the Oaks faced twelve months ago following the departure sharpshooter Zak Bozanich after a competition-leading 65 goals in 2023.

Oakleigh District playing-coach Blake Pearson was confident a mix of recruits and existing talent could cover Stevens’ loss.

“It’s a hard one, ‘Boz’ was 60-odd goals the year before, ‘Stevo’ was near-on 60, so it’s pretty tough,” he said.

“But we think Connor Cochrane, whose last four to six weeks of the season (was impressive) … if he does that for a consistent 18 rounds, he’s someone who can probably get close to that.

“Hopefully with our recruiting there’s potential for me to play a bit more forward and hit the scoreboard.

“We’ve got a couple (of recruits) in the pipeline who can certainly add some firepower up forward … we’re certainly hoping we can do that in the next couple of weeks.”

Mark Stevens has joined Lyndale. Picture: Davis Harrigan

The Oaks finished the home-and-away season in the fifth and last finals spot with an 8-10 record before a 74-point drubbing at the hands of Coldstream ended their premiership hopes.

Pearson said the elimination final result exposed a deficiency through the midfield – but the club’s latest signing could provide a significant lift.

Cam Hansen has put pen to paper, crossing from Southern league Division 1 outfit Dingley, where he won a senior club best and fairest – and this year, took home the reserves league honour.

“He had some increased work commitments this year, so he played the first five (senior) games for Dingley and then was happy playing some reserves football and ended up winning a league medal,” Pearson said.

“The midfield was clearly an area we need to work on and improve – it was one of the biggest differences in the finals and when we got challenged throughout the season.

“He’s (Hansen) a strong body and anyone that comes from a Division 1 club, certainly Dingley with the success they’ve been able to have, he’s certainly going to help us out.”

Pearson said an improvement through the midfield could be the linchpin to his side taking a further step next season following back-to-back finals campaigns in Division 3.

“One of the things we’ve spoken about in the off-season is just the weight of numbers of how often it goes in there (defensive 50) – our team-defence as a whole, we’ve focused on how we move the ball and what our attacking systems look like,” he said.

“If we can fix up what happens in the middle of the ground I think that goes a long way to us intercepting the ball a bit more and better opportunity ahead of the ball one-on-one.”