EFNL 2025: ‘Reward for effort’ as Noble Park upsets Doncaster East

A young and determined Noble Park fell short of the reigning premier the previous weekend – but a scalp wasn’t far away as it toppled a top-five outfit on Saturday.

EFNL 2025: Noble Park celebrates its win over Doncaster East. Picture: Supplied

It fell short of the reigning premier the previous weekend – but a scalp wasn’t far away for the plucky Bulls.

Noble Park upset top-five outfit Doncaster East 14.8 (92) to 11.13 (79) in Eastern’s Premier Division on Saturday in what senior coach Steve Hughes lauded as “reward for effort” across the past two months.

Ahead by a point at quarter time, the visiting Bulls extended the margin to 22 by the main break before denying the Lions in the second half.

“I’m pleased for the boys to get a bit of reward for effort – and that’s a collective effort over the best part of seven weeks,” Hughes said.

“There hasn’t been a game we’ve played where I’ve been disappointed with our effort – it’s been there the whole time.

“From time to time some sides get on top of us based on probably class, experience and size … but the effort’s been there in (all matches).

“To get a scalp against a really good side was really pleasing.”

A final-quarter lapse against Balwyn in its King’s Birthday weekend blockbuster plunged the Bulls to a 43-point defeat after trailing by seven midway through the term.

There were no such worries on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of elements of our game that are going really well, but we just need to tidy up lapses in games, which will happen with a young group,” Hughes said.

“There’s no complaints with our intensity and our pressure around the footy, probably just some of our offensive stuff needed to be tidied up.”

Jordan Marson finished with five goals, while returning ex-AFL Saint Sam Gilbert booted three. Kevin Kean and Josh Stern finished with two apiece.

“We looked dangerous forward I thought, we’ve got some real speed there – we were a bit smarter with the footy,” Hughes said.

Josh Tour was best afield as he led an otherwise inexperienced back six in taming arguably the league’s most potent forward line.

“Our whole defence were really strong – (Doncaster East) have got a 198cm Josh Schache, an ex-AFL player in Tim O’Brien, a really classy forward in Jack Sholakis, and Liam Loverso I’ve always rated, the left-footer, I think he’s a really good player,” Hughes said.

“I think (Doncaster East’s) biggest weapon is their forward line and we had a really inexperienced defence outside of Josh Tour and Bodey Lambert.

“Jacob Noble, Tom Taborsky, they were super, and Dean Jones had the job on Schache, and undersized by close to a foot.

“I was really pleased with the back six as a collective.”

It followed the emphasis of Hughes’ pre-game address: “finding a team defensive structure”.

“(It was) our theme for the day … which would help take away some of their threats – that can be difficult for a young group to execute for a sustained period, and we were able to do that,” Hughes said.

“Our pressure around the footy has been really good all year, but it was up (on Saturday) which I was really pleased with.”

Stern’s game in particular caught the eye of the coach.

“He looked super dangerous – I think he’s our most intelligent player,” Hughes said.

“He makes a great decision with the footy every time he gets the ball – every time ‘Sterny’ gets the ball, it ends up with a Noble Park jumper next.

“He set up a lot of good stuff for us.”

Former AFL players Josh Schache (three goals) and Tom Bell (two) led the scoring for Doncaster East, which sits fifth on the ladder with four wins and four losses.

Noble Park’s record improved to 3-5 for eighth spot, ahead of hosting South Croydon (seventh, 3-5) this weekend.