Thomastown secures its first win of NFNL Division 2 season, defeating Watsonia

Gun forward James Lucente fired against his former club to break Thomastown’s winless start and get the Bears’ season back on track.

Jackson Hayse in action for Thomastown. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Thomastown is on the board in 2025.

After a rough opening five weeks, the Bears broke their NFNL Division 2 duck on Saturday with a 35-point win over fellow winless club Watsonia at Main Street Reserve.

In freezing cold, wet conditions, the home team were jumped early but responded and led at every change to run out 16.15 (111) to 12.4 (76) victors.

The return of key players Aaron D’Angelo, Julian Janev and Adrian Natoli was a significant boost after early-season injury carnage.

After being held goalless for the past fortnight, gun forward James Lucente returned to form against his old club, bagging six goals, while off-season recruit Blake Ross was best-on-ground in the ruck.

Michael Tabacco in action for Thomastown. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Thomastown co-coach Sash Spiroski said it was good reward for his players.

“It’s not been the best start but it’s reward for the last couple of weeks,” Spiroski said.

“To get the first one on board, hopefully it starts our season.

“Injuries are part of football but we have gone through 36 players in the first six rounds, we haven’t had the stability of the same team week-to-week.

“We got a few experienced boys back, which obviously helped, and hopefully we can get a few more in the coming weeks.

“There’s been some young guys who have gotten their first taste of senior football, it’s always good to blood some young fellas but you need experience – especially in crucial moments.

“Credit to Watsonia, they came back and kicked the last four goals of the third quarter but the margin was still six goals and we were able to kill the game off in the last quarter.”

Watsonia held an early seven-point led but Janev kicked the first of five unanswered goals to turn the deficit into a 27-point advantage.

The margin was 15 points and momentum was with the visitors until a bizarre brain explosion from Phil Bastick, saw him yellow carded and Thomastown take full advantage.

Lucente would kick five goals as the Bears piled on the next seven majors to blow the game wide open, running away to a 60-point lead.

The Saints responded late in the third term, kicking four on the trot to narrow the margin to 67 points at three-quarter-time, and when skipper Josh Boulton kicked the first major of the last it was game on.

However, Makka Zakkour responded immediately to settle Thomastown nerves and all but ice the game.

Ross was named best-on-ground, continuing his impressive early-season form after coming across from West Coburg.

The big man has been among the best in three outings, filling the boots of Jarryd Coulson.

“He’s a 23-year-old, he started slow but the last few weeks have been huge,” Spiroski said.

“His competitiveness in the ruck and what’s been most pleasing is his second efforts, his follow-up tackling and pressure has been impressive.

“It’s been a big help after losing (Jarryd) Coulson, we had to find a replacement, we’re very, very pleased with him.”

Ross Hatzis, Lucente, Michael Tabacco, Youseph Dib and Sean Culhane were also impressive in the win.

However, the win was soured after Matt Vasilevski injured his hamstring.

For Watsonia, Jake McSwain was best-on, along with Boulton, Ben Callaghan and Luke Whyte.

Thomastown will now look to keep the momentum rolling against St Mary’s.

“That will hold us in good stead moving forward, we’ve got St Mary’s and Diamond Creek after that,” Spiroski said.

“Sometimes all it takes is a win to get the belief back.

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“A win under the belt gets the boys up and about, we’ll take it week-by-week as the cliche goes but we’ll take on St Mary’s and see where we stand.

“We didn’t get the result against Whittlesea but we’ve been moving in the right direction and hopefully with the win we can take it up another notch.”

Elsewhere in Division 2, Diamond Creek defeated Whittlesea by 31 points in a top-of-the-table clash and Macleod pipped Lower Plenty by three points.

St Mary’s was too good for Northcote Park in a 23-point win and Old Paradians recorded its first win, beating Panton Hill by five points.