Newtown & Chillwell coach Damien McMahon says loss to St Albans was a reality check for Eagles

Newtown & Chillwell’s season was sent into disarray as St Albans broke its losing streak. And the club’s coach says it was a reality check for his side.

Newtown coach Damien McMahon. Picture: Alan Barber

Newtown & Chillwell coach Damien McMahon has described his side’s staggering loss to St Albans as a “kick in the butt” as the club aims to restore some pride in the run home.

The eighth-placed Eagles became the first side to lose to St Albans this season in their shock 10-point defeat on Saturday, sending their season into disarray.

It came just three months after they demolished the Supersaints by 179 points in round three.

In the biggest upset of the Geelong Football Netball League season, St Albans kicked eight of the first nine goals as an inaccurate Newtown & Chillwell nearly managed to come back from a 41-point deficit.

The wasteful Eagles dominated the inside 50 count 50-26 but couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard, kicking 5.17 to St Albans’ accurate 9.3 as they suffered their fifth consecutive defeat.

Newtown & Chillwell has winnable clashes against Grovedale at home and North Shore away to come in the next fortnight, but the club remains five wins outside the top-five.

McMahon, who remains unsigned, said the Eagles paid the price for inaccuracy and that his side must improve in their last four games to finish the season.

Damien McMahon said the loss was a reality check for his side. Picture: Mark Wilson

McMahon with player Cameron Wilkinson. Picture: Mark Wilson

“We know that we are a better team and a better club than what we showed on the weekend and need to be able to turn that around against Grovedale on Sunday and that’s the plan. It is a moment that was a kick in the butt for us as a club and as a team and there is no hiding from that,” McMahon said.

“They deserved it on the day and it is a talking point on the flipside for us dropping a game that no one would have expected us to. It is an absolute reality check for us, we need to respond to it and we need to finish off the season on a more positive note than we have seen in the last two months.

“It was really disappointing afternoon. We obviously allowed them to get out to a commanding lead, struggled to kick goals ourselves. The second half we were a lot better, we obviously made it harder for them to score, we had more midfield dominance, we had superior inside 50 numbers.”

“There is no doubt they showed some great endeavour and played some really good football, they were really attacking and took the game on and were bold and brave and got the result they deserved. So credit to them and we can’t take anything away from them, they were the better team on the day.”

Newtown & Chillwell’s slide down the ladder comes after losing a host of key players over the off-season, including household names Blake Sutterby and Matt Boag to their Bellarine junior clubs, along with other stars during the year to injury and VFL commitments.

Goalkicker Flynn Young, who booted nine majors in the Eagles’ round three win over St Albans, is among those to become a VFL regular this season.

McMahon estimates more than half of his current side is different to the Eagles team that made the finals last year.

“It is a different looking team to how it was in 2023, everyone knows that, we knew that at the start of the season,” McMahon said.

“What hasn’t helped is we have lost key personnel, we didn’t envisage having only a couple of games out of Liam Nash, one of our star players - probably our best player - not playing really and only playing a handful of games for us at senior level. He has been a massive loss for us.

“People would say, ‘how do we turn from the result we had against them earlier in the season to now’. Reality is I think we are about eight players different, there are a lot of young kids we are playing at the club at the moment and lots of lessons to be learnt there.

“It certainly a changing of the guard at our club with a lot of young talented players getting senior opportunities that have played colts premierships over the last two years.

“If we are going to continue to develop some of our younger players, there is going to be some tough lessons learnt and there is going to be some games where we aren’t at the level where we would like to be at.”

Originally published as Newtown & Chillwell coach Damien McMahon says loss to St Albans was a reality check for Eagles