EFNL Division 3 2024: Warrandyte overcomes Silvan as club great Michael Cullum returns

A club great made a long-awaited return to Warrandyte’s seniors on Saturday – and finished among the best as the Bloods came from behind to snatch a vital Division 3 win.

Club favourite Michael Cullum returned from a long injury lay-off on Saturday, featuring in the best. Picture: George Salpigtidis

“Sometimes you’ve just got to find a way,” Warrandyte coach Paul Donahoo declared as his charges won ugly.

The Bloods made it two wins in the past three outings with a come-from-behind victory over Silvan in Eastern’s Division 3 on Saturday.

Donahoo conceded it “wasn’t a pretty game” as his players dug themselves out of a 16-point half-time deficit to oust Silvan on its home deck in the 11.12 (78) to 10.8 (68) victory.

Closing the gap to 10 points at the final change, the visitors kept the hosts goalless in the last term to snatch the win.

“It was pretty contested and I thought we were pretty poor, especially in the second quarter,” Donahoo said.

“We really let them walk around us and our pressure wasn’t at the standard that we’d like – but we found a way to keep ourselves in the game.

“I reckon about five or 10 minutes before the three-quarter time siren, you could really feel the momentum change.”

EFNL 2024: Warrandyte coach Paul Donahoo. Picture: Davis Harrigan

Club champion Michael Cullum made a long-awaited return from a knee injury – with the 36-year-old finishing among the Bloods’ best.

He last played in the senior side in Round 10 last year – against Silvan.

“He was really good, gave us some run and some pace and hitting front and centre of the packs which is what we’ve been working on,” Donahoo said.

“He’s very professional and does everything right and he just leads the way in doing that … he’s played a half and a full game in the twos in the last couple of weeks.”

Josh Meyers stood tall in defence in a best-afield display, keeping Cats’ forward Matt Low to one major.

Meanwhile, Jake Edwards-Moss provided plenty of run and dare off half-back while Niels Withoff and Taylor Hayton combined nicely in the ruck.

EFNL 2024: Warrandyte's Taylor Hayton. Picture: Davis Harrigan

“Josh Meyers has had to take some pretty big roles in defence this year,” Donahoo said.

“He played him (Low) really well, stopping a lot of their attacks in the second quarter – we could have been a lot further down without him.”

While lauding his side’s “passion and spirit” in the fightback, Donahoo said attention quickly turned to its 6 v. 7 bout with Upper Ferntree Gully next weekend.

Just one win separates the pair on the ladder.

“We move on reasonably quickly and I don’t think it (Saturday) was our prettiest game, but sometimes you’ve just got to find a way.”