WRFL 2021: Hoppers Crossing defeats Spotswood in Division 1

Hoppers Crossing experienced a disjointed preparation for its WRFL season opener against Spotswood, and responded superbly.

Brenton Payne celebrates one of his three goals for Hoppers Crossing. Picture: Local Legends Photography

Limited to one practice match and without a competitive hitout in almost a month, Hoppers Crossing entered Friday night’s Western Region Football League season opener with more uncertainty than most clubs.

But any doubts had well and truly disappeared by early in the third quarter of its Division 1 clash against flag rival Spotswood away from home, with the slick Warriors powering to a nine-goal advantage under lights.

They ultimately prevailed by 31 points, 14.13 (97) to 9.12 (66), with the Woodsmen kicking five of the last seven goals.

While Hoppers Crossing’s preparation was far from ideal, several players also missed chunks of pre-season due to injury, while others were simply out of form after a long lay-off.

But coach Steve Kretiuk, who has led the Warriors to finals of each of his six completed season at the helm and grand finals in 2016 and 2018, opted to maintain faith in his proven performers.

Ashlin Brown in action for Hoppers Crossing. Picture: Local Legends Photography

“Sometimes it is about trusting and keeping going with what you know,” Kretiuk said.

“As a coaching staff, you want to have confidence that the guys you put in can deliver.

“Not everyone’s going to have a good game, but if they do stand up … they’ll take this team to another level and they certainly did.”

Harley Armstrong-Weston produced a commanding performance in the ruck for the winners, feeding his onballers with aplomb.

Reigning best-and-fairest winner Mitch Palma, who experienced an interrupted build up, was influential in the midfield and Braden Ferrari was typically brilliant in defence.

Former AFL backman Kretiuk remarked he had never seen Ferrari play a bad game.

“He’s just a great kid, a competitive beast, hates to lose,” he said.

“I think that was the difference. We just had a real desire to win.”

At the other end, Brenton Payne and Cassius White contributed three goals apiece.

Given Spotswood is also expected to be among the contenders after landing ex-AFL midfielder Nick Graham and VFL-listed trio Fletcher Roberts, Nayef Hamad and Reuben William since the end of the 2019 campaign, it was a top-quality display from the Warriors.

The visitors had 123 rotations, underlining the difficulty players faced in their first official match since September, 2019.

“Obviously they (Spotswood) have got some really good class users of the footy, so we just wanted to make sure every time they got it we wanted to make sure we put some sort of pressure on them,” Kretiuk said.

“It worked well and gave us opportunities to win the footy back and get it our way.

“The first half was really pleasing in terms of sticking to our plan.

“You could tell in the second half, just that match conditioning cost us. There was a little bit of fatigue with decision-making an execution, which allowed Spotty to get back into the game.

“But it was a pretty determined effort from our guys.

“We just had to manage and get guys through. It was a really pleasing effort and performance from everyone.”

Western Jets-listed Sam Clifford, debutant Ezzat Haddara and White were among the young guns in the Warriors’ senior side.

Kretiuk said the perennial contender was in a good position.

“We’ve got a good balance and we’ve got some older heads now who know how to control this year,” he said.

“Liam McMahon as captain and Corey Muscat as vice-captain are outstanding in terms of our leadership. We’ve probably lacked a bit of direction at times over the past few years … and it makes our job a lot easier coaching this side when you’ve got guys like that leading from the front.”

Hoppers Crossing will next host Altona in a blockbuster Round 2 encounter, while Spotswood meets Deer Park.