EFNL Division 2 2024: Boronia hands finals-bound rival 85-point drubbing

Eastern Division 2 ladder-leader Boronia looks primed for another flag tilt after it served one of its closest rivals an 85-point smashing on Saturday.

EFNL 2024: Mitch Mellis was best afield for Boronia. Picture: Field of View Photography

Another finals-bound rival brushed aside.

Boronia flexed with an eight-goal final-quarter blitz to deal the third-placed Waverley Blues an 85-point drubbing in the wet on Saturday.

The Division 2 ladder-leader piled on 8.6 to finish with a rush in the 16.23 (119) to 5.4 (34) rout – but didn’t have it all its own way after a wasteful second term yielded 1.10 for a 15-point lead at the half.

“They (Waverley) were able to constrict us quite well when we had the ball – I don’t think we used it well but we give full credit to the way they defended,” Clark said.

“At quarter-time we had a good speak about locking in for four quarters in these conditions, and we had to defend better when we didn’t have it – the guys adjusted really quickly. We kicked 1.10 in that second quarter so we controlled the game.

“At half-time when we went in, we knew we were opening up the game and with the amount of repeat (inside 50) entries, they (Waverley) were getting tired.

“We knew to take territory.”

Boronia coach Matt Clark. (Photo by Josh Chadwick)

The Hawks’ third-quarter charge was boosted by the comeback of tall talent Josh Hannon as the reigning premier surged 38 points ahead.

“His first game back in the ruck was really dominant and we put a couple of bigger bodies around the footy … once we got it into our forward half, the speed we brought really opened up the game for us,” Clark said.

Meanwhile, Haydn Stanley made a long-awaited return from injury, providing plenty of grunt as a “bull” through the midfield as Nathan Hare and Ben Robertson led the way in attack with four goals apiece.

But the best-afield was none other than contested beast Mitch Mellis.

The reigning Division 2 league medallist is averaging 31 possessions a match this season.

“Mitch all day was mudlarking it – getting to the bottom of the pack and his second and third efforts have been really strong,” Clark said.

“Opposition put a lot of work into him every week, but his work rate and our ability as a team to help him out has been really good.”

Clark owed his side’s strong finishes this year to an intense pre-season.

The Hawks sit three games clear on top of the ladder off the back of an eight-match winning streak.

“Our ability to run games out has been strong – I’ve been really proud of the guys,” he said.

“I spoke to the guys after the game about what we did in October, November, December ... pre-Christmas last year has really set the foundation for us to play out games.”