WRFL: Altona beats Caroline Springs to earn grand final berth
Altona is a step closer to its first premiership since 2012 after downing Caroline Springs with a key forward inspiring the victory in a different looking role.
Western
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Caroline Springs and Altona have been the two best teams in the WRFL for a reason.
But it’s Altona who delivered the knockout blow in the third round between these two heavyweights to move through to the Division 1 grand final in two weeks time.
The Vikings won a thriller at Avalon Airport Oval 11.5 (71) to 9.11 (65) on Saturday in a game which could have gone either way.
Altona coach Corey McCall believes on another day his side could have been preparing for a preliminary final.
Instead, they’ll have plenty of time to plan a path to the club’s first premiership since 2012, Deer Park has won all seven since.
“Very satisfied, it’s just a relief,” McCall said.
“If you were a neutral supporter you would have loved what you were seeing. It was a tough day to be a coach. I was speaking to (Caroline Springs coach) Brodie Holland after the game and said it could have easily gone their way, even if the ball had of bounced the wrong way for us a couple of times.
“Caroline Springs have been the measuring stick of the competition all season and we managed to measure up. Finals footy is so different, it was tough and contested all day.
“It was one of the best games I’ve been involved in as a coach.”
While the Vikings didn’t change too much of their approach after the qualifying final victory against Deer Park, McCall did make some slight changes to his forward line.
Despite the scoreboard saying Joel Menadue kicked three goals, the most of any player on the ground, it was his defensive efforts against Lakers star Brian Lake which won the most praise from his coach.
Menadue was named the best player on the ground.
Elliot Cavallaro, Jack Norman and Taylor Whitford also kicked multiples.
“Joel’s role wasn’t so much about hitting the scoreboard like itk might have been about in previous games,” McCall said.
“It was about competing against a quality player in Lake. He sets them up well behind the footy and can take a game away from you with his intercept marking.
“We asked Joel to compete and that’s what he did.”
For the second game running, Altona found themselves on the back foot after trailing four goals to two at quarter time.
But as they did against Deer Park worked themselves back into the contest.
Eventually they were level at three-quarter-time as they kicked 2.2 to 0.6 in the third — a scoreline which came back to hunt the minor premier Lakers.
“We took that mentality that we just had to be close enough,” McCall said.
“I was really pleased with how we ran out the game.”
The only disappointment for Altona came inside the opening 30 seconds with David Barnaby “popping a calf” forcing the Vikings to play one short for the remainder of the day.
McCall said he would now have scans in the coming days to determine the severity of the injury.
“We’re really disappointed for Dave, he’s so well respected in our group,” he said.
“We never rule anyone out and the week off will certainly help.”
Norman, Whitford, Josh Bench, Mitch Turnbull and Mitch Van Den Berg also impressed for the Vikings.
Jerome Caterino was best afield for the Lakers in a two-goal performance while Keenan O’Shea and Jack Heron were also strong.
ALTONA WINS THROUGH TO SECOND SEMI
When Altona needed its quality most, it rose to the occasion.
A slow start meant the Vikings were staring down the barrel of a shock loss to Deer Park in the Western Region Football League Division 1 qualifying final on Saturday.
But Corey McCall’s side, who finished second on the ladder, rallied in the second half to run out 14.12 (96) to 10.15 (75) winners at Avalon Airport Oval.
Altona conceded six goals in the first quarter just as they had done in the previous meeting between the pair two weeks earlier.
The Vikings overcame a 23-point margin at halftime to book a place in the second semi-final against Caroline Springs.
Saad El-Hawli was able to break the game open with his “decision making going forward” according to McCall while Ethan Taylor “stepped up” in the midfield.
Joel Menadue “came to life” with three goals.
“To be honest, the start wasn’t great we just played some dumb footy in the first quarter,” McCall said.
“Deer Park held a good structure behind the ball but we didn’t make the right decisions. In the second quarter, we had more of the play but just weren’t able to convert.
“At halftime we told guys to go back to playing their roles. When things aren’t working, people were going outside of what they normally do to try and fix the situation — it just didn’t help.
“We needed to clean up our key indicators, which we did, but overall it was a real collective response to get us back in the game.”
Defender Tom Szanyi took best afield honours for Altona after holding Deer Park star Lachie Smart to one goal.
In the last game between the two sides he finished with six.
Importantly, Levi Greenwood was not able to have a major impact on the game for the Lions.
Colby Redpath, Josh Bench, Spencer Johnson and Mitch Van Den Berg were impressive for Altona.
“Tom did a very good job for us along with our other key defenders who were able to give us real drive out of defence,” McCall said.
“We want in with a plan to try and stop Greenwood and I thought we did a good job of that. But some of their other midfielders got off the chain so there’s some good lessons to take away from that.”
In recent weeks, Altona has been able to field a more familiar line-up with key names returning from injury.
That has included the return of former AFL player Connor Menadue who finished with three goals.
“We think the boys are still going to improve the more we play,” McCall said.
“Now we’ve got a really good opportunity against Caroline Springs. A lot of people want to see one against two on the ladder.
“We’re one-all this season so it should be an exciting game.”
Spiros Amarantidis was named best on ground for Deer Park.
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