Damon Marcon lifts Epping to NFL season-opening win over Fitzroy Stars
Returning to the club where he was a Team of the Year star, Damon Marcon booted five goals to help deliver Epping a season-opening win.
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A familiar face gave Epping the perfect start to the NFL Division 2 season on Saturday.
Returning to the club for the first time since 2018, Damon Marcon booted five goals, in the best-on-ground performance to lift the Pingers to a 17-point win over Fitzroy Stars at Sir Doug Nicholls Oval.
Marcon was one of 10 new faces along with Tom Burnside, Bailey Caldow, Zack Ferguson, Finnen Hoare, Dylan Hoysted, Omar Mustafa, Ben Rowan, Josh Sims and Clark Sloan.
Epping battled back from a 12-point half-time deficit to open its campaign with a 12.13 (85) to 10.8 (68) win and gain a critical early edge on a possible relegation rival.
New co-coach Glen Lehner said the club’s fitness work in the pre-season had paid dividends.
“We’ve come together well, we had 10 new faces play in the ones and another 15 in the development team,” he said.
“We started a bit slow and Fitzroy started really well, so we had to play a bit of catch-up.
“We backed ourselves – we’d done a lot of fitness work over the summer – that we’d have the legs to come back.
“It went back and forth, the lead might have changed four or five times in the last quarter, but we were able to get a couple on the trot and were able to hold them out.”
Marcon’s return after stints with Greensborough and Preston Bullants is a game-changer for Epping.
The dangerous midfielder-forward booted 40 goals and was named in the Team of the Year in 2018 and is expected to have a major say in the Pingers’ fate.
Meanwhile, Caldow, Hoystead, Mustafa and Burnside also played important roles, while Michael Jacobson was impressive in the ruck.
“Damon was awesome with five goals but also his clearance work when he went into the middle,” Lehner said.
“With Michael Jacobson and Dylan Hoystead hitting the scoreboard as well it was really positive.
“Michael was a standout, he kicked a goal and went into the ruck and gave us some potency with Alec Buchan, which drove us forward.
“Bailey was awesome, just his grunt work in and under and then his workrate to run back and help out in defence was important for us.”
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Epping plays its first home game of the season in Round 2, hosting Panton Hill.
The Pingers will be looking to make it two in a row against the Redbacks, who are coming off a 30-point defeat against Eltham.
Kyle Thomas booted four goals for the Stars in a strong showing, while Ash Hood was named Fitzroy’s best in defeat along with Riley Livingstone and Jye Brennan.
Fitzroy Stars face a nightmare trip to Lower Plenty to face a Bears side looking for payback after being upset by Watsonia at home on Saturday.
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