WRFL: Altona prevail against ladder leader Caroline Springs
Altona coach Corey McCall believes Caroline Springs remains the benchmark of the WRFL despite his side’s big win with a number of key players missing.
Western
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If you want to understand Altona’s mindset, look no further than the second half against Caroline Springs.
Trailing by 18 points at halftime, it appeared the unbeaten Lakers were going to run away with the contest.
But the Vikings rallied to hand the WRFL Division 1 ladder leader their first loss of the season 11.13 (79) to 8.8 (56).
The performance came without big names including Connor Menadue, Joel Menadue, Mitch Van Den Berg and Spencer Johnson — that’s what made it so impressive.
Altona coach Corey McCall was unable to hide his pride when it came to speaking about his team’s performance.
“I’m proud of how our players represent the club,” McCall said.
“It’s a huge win for the club, it’s hard to put into words what it means. But we’re going not to sugar-coat just how important these four points are for our side.
“They’re coachable and they want to be out there together. We knew if we could stat close then we were in with a shot.
“Our second quarter was really poor but we were able to turn it around in the third. And I was impressed with how we stuck fat and finished the job done.
“We don’t look to make excuses, we just ask our guys to come in and play a role.”
One player to come in and make a difference was Matt Trzeciak who was named best afield in his first senior game of the season and first since 2019.
Josh Bench, Ethan Taylor, Jack Norman and Elliott Cavallaro were also impressive.
But McCall said Trzeciak’s performance underlined him asking for players to come in and “play a role”.
“Our tall stocks were done and he was super against a formidable ruck do,” McCall said.
“Unfortunately work can hold him back sometimes otherwise he would almost be in our side every week. He partnered well with Ben Tipper who was playing just his sixth game of senior footy.
“Ben spent time up forward and sometimes was opposed to Brian Lake. What an experience for him to play on someone of Lake’s pedigree.”
After racing out of the blocks, Caroline Springs kicked just one goal after the main break.
Alipate Bryant, Jake Mold and Jack Heron were named among the better players for the Lakers.
“They’re still the benchmark for me,” McCall said.
“They’ve got a good balanced midfield and a good mix of talls and smalls across the ground.
“It all came together for us but I’m very confident they’ll be bouncing back.”
Altona’s win combined with other results saw them move two games clear of third place Hoppers Crossing boosting the Vikings’ chances of a double chance.
And with key players set to return in coming weeks, McCall admits he could be faced with a few headaches.
“We’re going to have some selection dilemmas,” he said.
“But it’s nice knowing we’ve got guys who want to come out of our development (reserves) team and grab an opportunity. We can’t afford to take anymore risks with players that are coming back from injury.
“That’s something we will work through as a group.”
Altona will next face Sunshine while Caroline Springs aims to bounce back against Spotswood.
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