Dominant Whittlesea takes critical step towards safety in relegation battle
A commanding performance sees Whittlesea take a major step towards NFL Division 1 safety after dismantling relegation rival Northcote Park.
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Whittlesea took a major step towards NFL Division 1 survival on Saturday.
With their season on the line, the Eagles were superb, dismantling relegation rival Northcote Park by 31 points at Bill Lawry Oval.
In contrast, the Cougars produced arguably their worst performance of the season with only a couple of late goals saving face.
The 10.10 (70) to 6.3 (39) result sees Whittlesea jump to eighth, a game ahead of Northcote Park and Hurstbridge with three games remaining in the season.
Eagles’ interim coach Jimmy Robinson couldn’t have been prouder of his players.
“We were focused on what we had to do today and not how the result was going to affect us for next year,” he said.
“We just treated it as a normal game, we all knew what was at stake but it wasn’t brought up too much, we just focused on what we had to do.
“It helps (our season) but, with the footy we’re playing now and the structure we’ve got in place, we’ve got to keep building, we can’t be happy with this one win.
“It’s well deserved, we’ve been working hard for the past four weeks … I’m just super proud of the boys and everything is starting to come together.
“The work the coaching group has done together over the last four weeks has been really important, especially Luke Russell’s impact.”
Northcote Park kicked the first goal of the game through Matt D’Angelo but Whittlesea soon took the ascendancy with a strong breeze that their back and took a 19-point lead into quarter-time.
The Cougars responded with two quick goals to start the second quarter before the Eagles’ backline took control of the game.
Best-on-ground Mitch Andrews, Matt Atta, Taidhg Bland and Jake Wild feasted on aimless long kicks, taking numerous intercept marks throughout the game.
Blake Fitzgerald impressed through midfield, while Jaron Murphy (three goals) was a constant threat in attack with Northcote Park unable to cope with his speed on the lead.
Robinson said the team had a very simple mantra – reset.
“It was our focus last week against Montmorency, reset every quarter and go again,” he said.
“Obviously it didn’t get the result we wanted but we improved a lot, so today we just reset every quarter – what working, what’s not – and it went a long way to winning.
“A lot of boys are starting to stand up, Keiden Tracey, Mitch Wild, Riley Carter, these boys coming in and playing a role and getting better and that’s all we can ask.”
Northcote Park were kept goalless for almost a half of football before skipper Matt Perry broke the drought in the final term.
The Cougars struggled to find any cohesion against Whittlesea’s rabid pressure around the ball.
Injury and insult were added to a difficult day when Alex Boyse was shown an unfair yellow card, Matt D’Angelo suffered an ankle injury minutes later and Lachlan Boscarini finished the game with ice on his quad.
Defender Ayui Makiemg was one of the few bright spots for the home team, impressing with a number of contested intercept marks and spoils.
Whittlesea youngster Lachlan Beattie was stretchered off in the first quarter with a knee injury and will have scans, while Curtis Taplin was helped from the field late in the game.
It’s Robinson’s second win after stepping up to the senior coaching role following Blair Harvey’s mid-season exit.
The reserve grade coach said he wasn’t looking to take the role full-time in 2023.
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“I was thrown into it, I’ve got a young family and this takes up a lot of time so I just wanted to help the club out, I played here for 20 years,” he said.
“Hopefully we can find someone more experienced than me next year to take the group further.
“It is a good group, we’ve got some good young kids coming through, especially in our 17s, our depth is really good.”
Whittlesea will look to keep its strong form going when it hosts North Heidelberg at the Showgrounds, while Northcote Park will look for redemption in a second straight relegation battle against Hurstbridge.
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