Lalor ends its 16-game losing streak with thumping win over Old Eltham Collegians

A crisis meeting held before its bye has helped turn Lalor’s listing season around after claiming a drought-breaking win over Old Eltham Collegians.

Lalor celebrates its drought-breaking win.

Lalor’s losing streak, dating back to last year, stood at 16 games.

In a difficult opening two months, the Bloods had just lost their opening five matches by an average of 97 points, former captain Scott Dickson had suffered serious facial injuries and key players had walked out.

The NFNL Division 3 club’s leadership called a crisis meeting before its Round 6 bye, determined to improve standards and turn the season around.

A week later Lalor was celebrating a drought-breaking victory, an impressive 38-point win over Old Eltham Collegians at Lalor Reserve.

Alex Dao was a brickwall in defence, while reigning NFNL Division 3 leading goalkicker Sam Rexhepi bagged eight goals to fuel to 15.9 (99) to 8.13 (61) triumph.

Critically, the result also moved the Bloods off the bottom of the ladder, leap-frogging Collegians, and fulfilled the old adage – always win on function night.

Captain Hirsi Twomey said it was a major relief for the club and players.

“It was good to finally get a win, and as captain it was really special,” Twomey said.

“After the last few weeks, we were feeling a bit ordinary, so we had a crisis meeting before the bye.

“We sat down with all the boys and laid out some expectations and how we’re going to move forward because it wasn’t working.

“It started on the training track and converted on Saturday.

“We needed to trust our teammates, a lot of the boys when it got hard would go into their shells a bit instead of for their teammates.

“We sat down, answered some questions, it got pretty deep, and we all had a crack.”

After a dour first quarter, Old Eltham held a seven-point lead before the game sparked into life in the second term.

Kicking with the wind, Lalor poured on six goals to take a 13-point lead into half-time.

Lalor coach Lance Whitnall talks to his players. Picture: Josh Chadwick

The Turtles laid siege to the home team’s defence in the third term but couldn’t convert, kicking 2.7, as the Bloods went into the final term with a six-point buffer.

With the breeze at their back once more, Lalor took full advantage with seven more goals.

“They’re obviously in a similar situation to us and we go in every week to try and win,” Twomey said.

“It was a windy day, so it was a game of two halves.

“Having the wind in the final quarter helped us put the nail in coffin, we knew we had to hold them off in the third quarter and we did convincingly.”

Bookends, Dao and Rexhepi, were unstoppable with dominant individual displays at either end.

Hayden Hunt, playing his first game since Round 1, Heath Patton, Nawid Najafi and Nick Eades also shone.

Alex was fantastic, he played at full-back and would have had 30 possessions,” Twomey said.

“He took a lot of intercept marks and was a major difference.

“Alex has been around for a long time, his dad was a premiership player in the 90s, but he’s been travelling overseas the last couple of years.

“Sam makes it so easy for us, you’ve just got to put it in his space.

“We had to have a chat this week with Sammy too, he changed his attitude a bit and it showed on the scoreboard.”

Twomey returned to Sydney Crescent this seasons after three years and a premiership at Essendon District outfit Oak Park.

He was handed the captaincy reigns and just trying to do the job justice under difficult circumstances.

“It’s different. I’ve never been part of a leadreship group before in my 11 or 12 years of football,” he said.

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“I’m just trying to be a good teammate and lead by example, I’m learning that’s for sure.”

The Bloods face the difficult task of stopping premiership contender Laurimar next week, kicking off a difficult month that also includes Fitzroy Stars, Mernda and Epping.

Elsewhere in Division 3, Fitzroy Stars continued their undefeated start with a 69-point win over Kinglake and Laurimar proved too good for Heidelberg West in a 74-point victory.

Epping smashed Ivanhoe by 62 points and Mernda edged Kilmore by 18.