Heidelberg West upsets Old Eltham Collegians to keep finals hopes alive

No coach, no captain, facing a red-hot rival, Heidelberg West produced one of the club’s great wins to keep its finals hopes alive.

Billy Wright in action for Heidelberg West.

No coach, no captain, against a red-hot rival, Heidelberg West delivered one of the club’s great wins on Saturday.

The Hawks’ 24-point win over Old Eltham Collegians at Eltham College keeps the club’s NFL Division 3 finals hopes alive and puts a dent in the Turtles’ top-two aspirations.

Clinging to a four-point lead at three-quarter-time, the visitors powered home with a seven-goal blitz.

Alex Hywood was inspirational, booting six goals, as Hawks assistant coach Terry Doukas helmed the 13.3 (81) to 8.9 (57) upset.

Missing the game due to a wedding, coach Michael Missen labelled the win as West’s most important of the season.

Heidelberg West coach Michael Missen.

“It was tough conditions, if you know the Turtles ground, it’s heavy at the best of times,” he said.

“It’s the most important because it gives us the chance to keep our season alive, to try and play finals, and reaffirms the way we go about it stacks up against good teams.

“If we can bring the right attitude and execute our trademarks we’ll always be in the game, so it’s a good result for us.”

Led by Hywood, the Heidelberg West offence exploded, recording it’s best score against a top-four team this season.

Hywood finished with six goals, jumping into third on the competition’s goalkicking charts, while Jordan Vellios added three and Allan Young two.

“Alex just turned it on, he had a great day and on one leg,” Missen said.

“He strained a hammy early and had to play deep (forward) for most of the game and had a monumental impact.

“All our forwards are pretty dangerous, Alex kicked six, Jordy has had a standout season and kicked three and Allan Young is another quality senior player who’s played Division 1 footy.

Jack Marris in action for Heidelberg West.

“The way we set up we knew we’d keep them (defenders) busy and it paid dividends for us.”

Despite having the bye last week, Heidelberg West lost several key players during the week to illness and injury.

Captain Ben Kennan succumbed to injury during the week, leaving the Hawks short in defence.

Lachie Evans was forced back, leaving West’s already thin ruck stocks vulnerable, but Tom Kimpton stepped up and played a critical role.

“We thought after the week off we’d get four or five blokes back but we lost another four or five,” Missen revealed.

“A couple of COVID ones, a couple broke down at training, one bloke hurt himself at work, you can’t control it.

“Harley Moz and Ryan Offer, our first two ruck options, our captain Ben Kennan, our best defender, broke down during the week and Jordan Bulman is probably top three in our best-and-fairest.

“The guy that stepped up for us was Tommy Kimpton.

“He’s small but plays ruck, Lachie Evans had to play back on Matt Keys, and Tommy just gave us a solid contest – he’s giving away a couple of inches but he’s just no nonsense and we were rapt with the way he went about it.”

The win moves Heidelberg West within a game of Kilmore in fourth.

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The Hawks face ladder leader Laurimar this week but Missen is confident his team can finish strongly and contend for finals.

“Because we finished fifth in 2021, the way the fixture works, we’ll play an extra game against a team outside the top four,” he said.

“All we can worry about now is winning, we believe we compete well with the all the sides in the top four, and hopefully later in the year a couple of teams might fall over with injuries and it might open up for us.”

The loss is Old Eltham’s second in a row but the Turtles face Reservoir on Saturday.