WRFL: Altona overcomes Hoppers Crossing on emotional day

Altona recorded one of its most emotional wins of the season on Saturday as the popular Gavan Taylor made a return to the club with coach Corey McCall opening up on a “tough 2022”.

Altona was playing for so much more than four points against Hoppers Crossing.

They were doing it for their great mate Gavan Taylor.

The club’s statistician’s health battle has meant he has been unable to attend games as often as he would have liked this season.

But he got his wish to see his boys in action on Saturday as the Vikings ran out 14.9 (93) to 7.4 (46) winners as they continued to tune up for WRFL Division 1 league finals action.

Taylor is a close friend of Altona coach Corey McCall who is guiding the club through an emotional year.

In February, they paid tribute to assistant coach Daniel Lunardi who died suddenly.

“It’s been a bloody challenging year, we’ve had so much go on outside of footy and the whole season has been about representing those doing it tough,” McCall said.

“When the boys run out to play it’s in the back of their minds about what is happening. It’s been tough to take but they continue to rock up and give it their best every week.

“There was a real lift to have Gav at the game, the smiles on people’s faces were really uplifting. He’s got a huge battle on his hands but we’re going to continue supporting him.

“We hope he enjoyed what the boys were able to do.”

The result could also shape as season defining for the Warriors as they slipped out of the top three and behind in the race for the double chance after Deer Park’s win over St Albans.

Before the game, McCall spoke to his players about the challenges which laid ahead.

“We had a different agenda because of our position,” he said.

“They obviously need to keep winning where we looked at the game as an opportunity to bring some more guys back like Mitch Van Den Berg and Colby Redpath to get some minutes in their legs.

“There were a couple of others we wanted to reintroduce after some time off but thought we would give it another week.

Altona coach Corey McCall.Picture: George Salpigtidis

“We’re still in the process of finding the right balance, we’ve had an average of five to six changes a week.”

Josh Bench continued his brilliant season for the Vikings in his return to the side after earning another best on ground nomination.

McCall described his star as a “warrior” who continued to front up and battle away in the middle.

Taylor Whitford impressed with four goals while Tom Szanyi, Kelly Pickard, David Barnaby and Kevin Johnson also performed strongly.

While the Vikings could mathematically still catch Caroline Springs and finish as minor premiers it appears very unlikely.

Elliot Cavallaro kicked two goals for Altona.Pic: George Sal

The Lakers sit one game and percentage (over 70 per cent) ahead.

It means a qualifying final against Deer Park, who they’ll face next weekend, looms as Altona’s first finals opponent.

“We’d prefer to keep playing and building momentum,” McCall said.

“We’re still getting guys back from injury so they need minutes. The double chance is fantastic for us and a great reward for the boys pushing through all of the adversity.

“Deer Park will be a good test for us and so will Yarraville (Seddon) in the last game.

“We’re going to learn some things in the last couple of games.”

Ashlin Brown was named best afield for the Warriors while Braden Ferrari and Sam Clifford also battled hard.

Hoppers Crossing will next face Spotswood who sit just outside the top five.