After a rain plagued week, the purpose built Eagles’ home ground at Bruce Purser Reserve faced its biggest test on the weekend. Despite all other grounds in the Shire being closed, the Hills Council confidently declared that the Withers Road complex would remain open. And it responded brilliantly to enable the East Coast Eagles to conduct all of their Sydney AFL matches last Saturday.

The as yet undefeated Eagles went into their Premier Division round seven clash against Sydney Uni with a somewhat measured confidence that another victory would be forthcoming. In past seasons, the Students had caused East Coast plenty of difficulty. However the opening salvos fired by the local side in the first quarter removed any worries that may have been there, with the Eagles kicking five unanswered goals in the first quarter. It was more of the same in the second and East Coast went into the long break with a healthy 38-point margin.

The Eagles’ dominance emerges from deep in the midfield with the experienced Luke Stanford and Shane Ryan pairing with the 18-year-old dynamos Michael Johnston, Jack Dimery and Daniel Spiteri. Their strength and slickness gives the back six the confidence to run and support that centreline as they know the ball will emerge quickly and cleanly. When the chain is in motion the forwards get the ball delivered with precision. Which is why Gus Seebeck, fresh from kicking 13 straight the week before, was again at the forefront with another five, giving him 18 consecutive goals without a miss.

East Coast increased the lead to 10 goals at three-quarter-time and a fairly even last quarter had the Eagles running out winners by 65 points. Best player honours went to Ben Physick who had the ball on a string in defence all night where he, Kristian Pearson, Rowan Bilkey and Mark Maher dominated their opponents. Ed Wilson, the leading ruckman in the competition had an incredible 58 hit outs on the night, whilst debutant Trent Stubbs was very impressive in his first encounter with senior football.

Final scores

East Coast Eagles: 13.13 (91)
Sydney Uni:3.8 (26)

Best: Ben Physick, Kristian Pearson, Mark Maher, Rowan Bilkey, Shane Ryan, Ed Wilson

Goals: Gus Seebeck 5, Michael Sankey 2, Trent Stubbs 2, Trent Baker, Luke Stanford, Ryan Smyth, Daniel Spiteri

East Coast now remains undefeated at the top of the table in Premier Division with seven wins. Next weekend sees the Wollongong Lions travel to Bruce Purser for another full day of AFL action aplenty.

Saturday, May 30, 2009:

10.00am U/18 Premier Cup  East Coast v Wollongong
Midday Division 1   East Coast v Wollongong
2.10pm Premier Cup   East Coast v Wollongong
5.00pm Division 2   East Coast v Macquarie Uni
7.00pm U/18 Challenge Cup East Coast v Macquarie Uni  

In other matches, East Coast’s Division One side (formerly Reserve Grade) came up against Sydney Uni who sat second on the ladder. However the Students have yet to beat the Eagles (ever) at this level and this Grand Final replay from 2008 didn’t change that statistic. The boys were fabulous and after being all tied up at half-time, they ran away in the second half to win by 24 points.  

East Coast Eagles: 9.9 (63)
Sydney Uni: 5.9 (39)

Best for East Coast were Darren Chapman, Tim Physick and Andrew Polkinghorne. 

At Division 2 level, although East Coast were beaten by 37 points, it was a much improved effort from this team who were formed only this year to cater for the senior playing growth in the Club. They can only get better as they begin to understand the nature of each other’s capabilities.

Sydney Uni: 14.10 (94)
East Coast Eagles: 7.3 (45)

Best for the Eagles were Ben Hynes, Liam Patira (4 goals), James Denton, Brad Whale, Peter Bleus and Alan Moeller (2 goals).

The Premier Cup U/18’s met Riverview in the final game of the day under lights. An excellent crowd remained at the ground to watch this classy team go round. They completely closed the St Ignatius boys out of the contest in the first three quarters and led by 45 points at the last break. However a major lapse in concentration in the final quarter allowed a much more determined Riverview to outscore the Eagles to finally go down fighting by 38 points.

Nevertheless the team still remains second on the ladder with a 6-1 win / loss ratio.

East Coast Eagles: 8.13 (61)
St Ignatius College, Riverview: 5.9 (39)

Best for the Eagles were Eugene Kruger, Dean Costello and Anthony Baddock.     

Does the U/18 Challenge Cup side have the hard luck story of the past month? Playing in the first match of the day, Ryan Madden’s boys met the second placed Sydney Uni and led all day, except at the 20-minute mark of the last quarter, when the final siren blew. They lost by a point, which served up their fifth consecutive loss by less than two goals. Undeterred, Madden has told the playing group that their first win “is just around the corner” and perhaps that will come next week against Macquarie Uni.

Remarkably, for a side which sits winless on the bottom of a nine team ladder, they have a percentage of 73.41 which is the 6th highest in the competition!! Work that one out?

Sydney Uni: 4.12 (36)
East Coast Eagles: 5.5 (35)

Best were Jaren Serdar, Kyle Healy and Paul Mildwater.