Southern league Division 4: Hallam shocks ladder leader Cerberus

Three Under 19 players were at the heart of Hallam’s stunning win over Cerberus in the Southern league.

Hallam newcomers Harry Sharlassian and Keaton McConville

It was a boilover of scalding proportions, one of the biggest upsets in local football last Saturday.

Ahead of Cerberus meeting Hallam, no one could have given the Hawks much hope.

Cerberus was unbeaten after four rounds and with a percentage of 473.33.

Hallam was 1-3 with a percentage of 54.73 and its only win was against Dandenong, by one point.

But the Hawks defeated the Three Headed Dogs 6.6 (42) to 3.11 (29) in the Southern league Division 4 match, defending remarkably well against a team that had been booting big scores.

Hallam brought up three players from its strong Under 19 team – Harry Sharlassian, Dante Atton and Keaton McConville - and all were in the best players and gave the side what coach Sev Sharlassian was looking for: fresh legs, energy and ideas.

Hallam coach Sev Sharlassian.

Sharlassian said his side had been crippled by injuries in the first month of the season, losing nine players since Round 1.

“We’ve had two games where we’ve had no interchange in the last quarter and that’s why we’ve been getting run over a little bit,’’ he said.

“So we looked to some boys. We’ve worked really hard to get Under 19s up – and they’re a very strong Under 19 group – and we thought we had nothing to lose by bringing three of them up.

“The morale was quite down at our club for a few weeks, even after knocking off Dandy. It didn’t really do a lot for us, because we were 28 points up at three-quarter time and only won by a point.

“A victory’s a victory but, like I said, our spirits were down a bit and by bringing up the kids, they gave us that enthusiasm.’’

Harry Sharlassian (the son of the coach) and McConville were on debut.

Atton is captain of the Under 19s and was among the best players on the ground, running tirelessly through the midfield.

Sharlassian acknowledged the Cerberus team could change frequently – “for all we know three or four of their superstars were out yesterday’’.

But Sharlassian stayed back in the rooms for a while and Cerberus officials admitted they were expecting another 15-goal win.

“They were shocked. At quarter time they couldn’t believe how hard our boys were hitting them,’’ he said.

“You know what? It was a scrappy old game. But when the skills counted, when you needed them, we stepped up and ran away with it.

“Our whole attitude was, if they’re going to beat us, let’s make them earn their win.’’

Adding merit to the victory, leading players Joel Danilo, a defender and Hallam’s captain, and midfielder/forward Jack Sharlassian were missing from injury.

Vice-captain Dylan Thompson, Tom Bradley, Alex Kerr and Brendan Reynolds did play.

Sharlassian, 56, was appointed senior assistant coach in 2019 and took over at the end of the season.

He is an experienced football man, having coached at under-age level for many years.

Sharlassian admitted that discipline had been poor when he arrived at the club at the encouragement of president Graeme Casey.

He said the Hawks now had higher standards of application and preparation.

Hallam is fielding seniors, reserves, Under 19s and a women’s team this year.