Heidelberg West overcomes Fitzroy Stars in entertaining Friday night clash
Heidelberg West and Fitzroy Stars put on an entertaining, highly-skilled, end-to-end exhibition of Friday night footy and there should be more of it.
Northern
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Heidelberg West kicked off its season with a 25-point win over Fitzroy Stars in an entertaining Friday night clash at Heidelberg Park.
The NFNL Division 3 match showcased the potential for more local footy to be played on Friday night, especially when the AFL is interstate.
In an absorbing, highly-skilled, end-to-end contest, Heidelberg West dominated the second half to win 14.13 (97) to 10.12 (72).
In a match-defining third-quarter, Hawks ruckman Lachie Evans was immense, winning a string of centre clearances that led to goals for teammates.
West kicked six goals to three to turn a four-point half-time deficit into a 14-point lead at the final change.
The teams traded goals early in the fourth quarter before a contentious yellow card shown to Star Jordan Proctor gifted the home team a goal and a decisive lead.
After being forced to wait a week to play their first match, Hawks coach Michael Missen was understandably delighted with the performance.
“Unreal. I couldn’t think of a better start,” he said.
“It was a pretty high standard of footy, especially for a night game.
“They are a really good football team, their ball in hand stuff is incredible, so for us to keep grinding – nothing but pride.
Our message at half-time – they were going quite well through our errors, they bought good intensity early – was to back ourselves to withstand it the longer the game went and we were able to maintain our pressure, which held us in good stead.”
Both teams showcased eye-catching ball movement in the first half.
Fitzroy Stars coach Lionel Proctor lamented missed opportunities to hold a bigger lead than 6.9 (45) to 6.5 (41) at the main break.
Evans then caught fire in the middle as Heidelberg West booted four unanswered goals, only broken by an accidental out-of-bounds-on-the-full and class finish from Hedley Smith.
Jai Burns kicked the first goal of the last quarter to reduce the margin to eight points but Allan Young quickly restored the Hawks lead.
A Stars kick-in then turned into a Max Post goal from the goalsquare after a scuffle that saw Proctor shown yellow and that was the game.
Young, Alex Hywood and Alex Williamson all booted three goals for West, while Tyson Pickett kicked three for the Stars.
Evans was best afield, while Dan Kelly, Nick Paton, Marcus Hill and Williamson also impressed.
“Lachie had a massive six or seven minutes in that third quarter where he had three or four clearances and started to have a real presence,” Missen said.
“We recruited him to play that role last year but he got injured in Round 1 and when he came back he was basically on one leg.
“We’re excited about getting a year out of him because we believe he’ll only get better and better.”
Missen kept his team out in the middle following the game, delivering a simple message.
“Nothing changes for us,” he said.
“There’s an expectation to try and play finals, we know it’s there, but you can’t just play finals, you’ve got to have a process to get there.
“We improved last year and we feel like we improved over summer again, so our priority is just getting better.
“Our game style played out the way we expected and will keep us in good stead against all the other teams we face this year.”
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For Fitzroy Stars, Keith Morgan was best-on, with Burns, Thorpe, Norris, Pickett and Smith all strong contributors.
After the match, Lionel Proctor said he wasn’t disappointed in the performance but his team had a couple of areas to work on.
Norris could be in doubt for the Round 3 clash against Old Eltham Collegians with a leg injury.
Heidelberg West will travel to Reservoir looking to make it two from two to start the year.
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