Old Eltham Collegians kept its premiership dream alive and ended Kilmore’s
Old Eltham Collegians ticked off three big firsts on Sunday as it kept its premiership dream alive and ended Kilmore’s season.
Northern
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A major tactical shift has helped Old Eltham Collegians keep its premiership dream alive.
The Turtles claimed a 27-point elimination final win on Sunday to end Kilmore’s NFL Division 3 campaign and set up a preliminary final date with South Morang.
The 12.6 (78) to 7.9 (51) was the club’s first final and finals win since crossing to the Northern Football League in 2019 and earns it a first preliminary final.
Shutdown roles on Blues prime-movers Chris Ryall and Chris Barton proved critical.
“We felt their mids were their strength and we had the upper hand in defence and matched up well against them up forward,” Collegians coach Matt Sleeman said.
“Barton and Ryall, we put a lot of work into them.
“Niall McDonagh played a hard tag on Ryall, which we hadn’t really done this season – had a direct shutdown role.
“Jack Fitzgerald played on Chris Barton for most of the game and I don’t think he had a lot of influence in the game and Ryall didn’t get near it, who I think is the No.1 player in the competition.”
The strategy worked as Kilmore struggled to win the ball in the middle.
Old Eltham steadily increased its lead throughout the game, taking a six-point lead into quarter-time, extending it to 10 at the half and 15 by the final change.
A three-goal-to-one final term ended any hope of a Kilmore comeback.
“The message (at three-quarter-time) was don’t get bored with what we’re doing well,” Sleeman said.
Nick Milne starred in attack, booting a match-high six goals to take his season tally to an even 50 in 16 appearances.
Seb Francis-Perkins impressive at centre half-back with both he and Milne getting back to full fitness after mid-season hamstring injuries.
Kilmore named Chris and Ciaran Barton as its best in defeat, while James Atkinson and Michael Fenech also stood tall.
The result ticks another box for the Turtles, progress, Sleeman said, the club was proud of.
“We’ve spent the year trying to tick off firsts, there’s a lot of things being a new club in the Northern footy league we’d never done before,” he said.
“We’d never beaten Laurimar, we’d never beaten South Morang at South Morang or Kilmore at Kilmore and I said at three-quarter-time, just turning up today was another first.
“Coming away with the win would be an even better first and we were able to do that and win our first final and we’ll play our first preliminary final next week.”
Collegians will take on South Morang after the Lions went down to Laurimar in the second semi-final by 26 points on Saturday.
The Turtles claimed a seven-point win in the Round 7 meeting at Mill Park Lakes before the Lions turned the tables with 39 and 70-point wins at Eltham College later in the season.
Collegians were held to just 24 and 28 points in those two losses.
However, Sleeman put the pressure on the minor premier ahead of the sudden-death showdown.
“There’s little pressure on us, we obviously want to get out of Division 3 as much as everyone else, but we’re still building,” he said.
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“South Morang are coming off a loss and we’re at as full strength as we can be – barring a couple of season-ending injuries.
“The pressure is on South Morang this week, they would have fancied themselves against Laurimar and having to come up against us in good form, the pressure is on.
“They want to get out of Division 3 and if it doesn’t happen this year, it’s another 12 months before they’ll get another chance.”
The winner will take on Laurimar in the grand final on September 3 at Whittlesea Showgrounds.
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