EFNL Division 4 2024: Croydon North-MLOC breaks through with 51-point win over Nunawading

Croydon North-MLOC is on the board for 2024 in Eastern’s Division 4, in a result the coach hopes can spark a revival.

EFNL 2024: Croydon North-MLOC celebrates its Round 8 win over Nunawading. Picture: Croydon North-MLOC

The monkey is off the back.

Croydon North-MLOC toasted its first win of the Eastern Division 4 season on Saturday, sinking Nunawading 16.13 (109) to 8.10 (58) as club favourite Jacob Crowe fired with seven goals.

Winless through the first seven rounds of the season, the result also marks the Kanga-Rams’ first victory since Round 16 last year – which also came against Nunawading.

Barring a patch at the beginning of the final term, Croydon North-MLOC senior coach Ben Oakes said he “felt we had control of the game from the start” in Saturday’s 51-point drubbing.

While the win was a sense of “relief” for the coach, Oakes declared the result could set the sights on the remainder of the campaign without the burden of the drought.

“It’s probably relief for myself to be honest, (the) players were happy to win … they were excited as they should be. You celebrate wins no matter how big or small,” Oakes said.

“Just to get a win and to get that done and dusted early-ish in the season, it sort of lets us move forward now for the rest of the year.

“We’re hoping to get a few more on the board before the end of the year.”

Despite Crowe’s dominance in attack, defender Ryan Kelly finished the Kanga-Rams’ best from centre half-back.

“He pretty much controlled the game – I reckon he would have had about 30 touches,” Oakes said of Kelly.

But the coach wasn’t short of praise for Crowe.

“For him to kick seven, that was huge for us,” Oakes said.

“Our midfielders and ruckmen were exceptional as well – it’s pretty easy to name good players when you’re winning a game of footy.”

The victory lifts Croydon North-MLOC off the bottom of the ladder with a 1-5 record and two byes – swapping spots with Nunawading.

Despite the losses outweighing the wins this season, Oakes remained optimistic his group was on the right track.

“They’re a pretty steely group,” he said.

“A lot of people probably lose and if there’s no sight of an easy win, they move on.

“But we explained after our first loss this season (to Nunawading) … we put a little plan in place where at Round 8 (last Saturday), the group should be brought together by then.

“Even though we haven’t been winning, we’ve been in games. We’re trending in the right direction.”

Croydon North-MLOC hosts Scoresby in Round 9 while Nunawading is at home to Forest Hill.