Southern league: Keysborough defeats Skye in Division 2

And skipper Tom Anderton responds to a challenge from coach Chris Smith as the Burras come out of Covid looking sharp.

Mitch Barry is blossoming into a key player at Keysborough.

He’s raw, but his natural talent is hard to ignore.

Young Mitch Barry arrived at Keysborough last year with an impressive background – in basketball.

He’d given up football after Under 16s and turned to hoops, where he advanced to the Pakenham Warriors representative team.

When he switched back to football and joined Keysborough, he was seen as a forward.

The Burra have turned him into a backman – and he’s quickly becoming an important part of a team that will play in the SFNL Division 2 finals.

When Keysy meet the unbeaten Springvale Districts in a fortnight, it will be Barry who goes to star Demons goalkicker Matt Wetering. They know each other well: they were juniors teammates at Narre North Foxes.

“We really like him,’’ Keysborough coach Chris Smith was saying of Barry, 21, after Saturday’s match against Skye.

“He’s a ripper. He’s in the Next Gen Academy (the training squad for the Southern league’s emerging players, overseen by former AFL star Nick Dal Santo) and he’s only getting better.

“He was a centre half forward when he came to us, but with Teddy (Tim Edwards) and ‘Hammer’ (Matt Carnelley) up there we had to look at another role for him, and we put him into the backline. He was like a baby giraffe at the start but he’s come a long, long way, by far the most at this club. I look forward to him running around on Matty Wetering in a couple of weeks.’’

The 20-year-old was in the best players as the Burras resumed from the second Covid interruption with a rousing win over the Bombers at Rowley Allan Reserve, 13.12 (90) to 6.10 (46).

In his after-match address Smith singled out six players for praise: Barry, Bradley Cavalot, Brandon Mather, Matt Beer, Carson Strobel and Tom Anderton.

He left his skipper until last, saying he had “put it on’’ Anderton before the game.

Keysborough is missing key players including Bryce Sutton, Tim Werner, Dylan Webb and Edwards, and Smith figured he needed his senior men to show the way against Skye.

“We had up to nine out … and, yeah, I put it on the skipper and he was brilliant today,’’ Smith said.

“I’ve been asking him to do things I probably shouldn’t have been asking him to do, try to be tougher and stand up a bit for the boys around the footy. That’s extra pressure he didn’t need as a new captain. I learned from that and I said to him before the game, ‘It’s time to go back to Under 10s footy’, go out, have a bit of fun, get the footy, no garbage, just play footy’. He ended up with 25 or so touches and was super.’’

Keysy coach Chris Smith at the huddle.

Mather was superb at full back, Beer never stopped running on his wing, Strobel played the sort of match club stalwart Ant Brannan insisted he was capable of, and Cavalot, slight but speedy, shot around like a pinball.

Stalwarts Brannan, Ryan “Bomber’’ Goodes and Geoff Humphreys (two goals) contributed too.

Smith said Beer, recruited from Doveton Eagles, had been one of the club’s most consistent players this season and it would be no surprise if he was leading the best and fairest.

He said he was “stoked’’ to defeat a Skye team that had improved and was well coached by Luke Martin.

“It’s an even comp. You’ve got to be on to get the wins and we were on,’’ he said.

The victory was achieved despite injuries to Calum Letcher (Achilles), Jonathan Huntington (heavy knock) and Luke Houldcroft (calf).

Keysborough is fourth on the ladder at 9-3, the same number of wins as East Brighton and Caulfield, and finishes the reduced home-and-away program with games against Heatherton and Springvale Districts.

Smith said he was looking forward to meeting the “big rival, Springy’’. The teams haven’t seen each other this year.

“I cannot wait. Not only are you playing the best side, but I’m coaching against the best coach (Kris Thompson) so I want to see how I go against him and not get rattled,’’ he said.