As part of the AFL Community Football weekend the East Coast Eagles took on Pennant Hills in the traditional Back to Baulko day. For the second year in a row it proved to be a day that was not kind to the Eagles on the field with Pennant Hills walking away with three wins on the day as well as taking out the main game to retain the Warren “Pops” Quintrell shield.
In the seniors, coach Glenn Garner must be at a loss to explain why it seems each week that one quarter lets the side down. This week it was the third term and in that quarter Pennant Hills outscored the Eagles by six goals to none. The final margin was 33 points, Pennant Hills 6.14 (110) to the Eagles 11.11 (77).
The good thing to come out of the game was the performance of two young and exciting players from the Eagles in Andrew Polkinghorne and Daniel Spiteri. Both were fantastic across all four quarters and along with Michael Johnston and Mark Maher there is some strong young talent to work with. Add to this the two Eagles in Anthony Stubbs and Nathan Gordon who are playing with the state under-18 side in Melbourne at the moment; there is a great nucleus of good young players coming through the ranks.
Also pleasing was the first up performance of Lawrence Furlan. In his first game for the Eagles he showed enough to suggest that he will be a handy addition to the team as his match fitness improves.
It is still a work in progress with a new coach and many new faces to the senior team and they will continue to leave no stone unturned in trying to match quality sides like Pennant Hills. The players now know what level they have to reach to beat the best.
The reserve grade side suffered their first loss for the season and it was a day that the team never seemed to be able to get going. Pennant Hills looked very determined right from the first bounce and the Eagles never could bridge the gap. The Demons ran out winners by 22 points, the final scoreboard reading the Demons 14 10 (94) to 11 6 (72).
The Eagles will need to rebound quickly as they take on another undefeated team in UNSW/ES this weekend. Brad Whale, Mike Murrell and Damian Gatte gave wholehearted performances and Rod Frost was prominent up front with four goals.
The Premier Cup under-18 side took on a team which has set the standard over many seasons and when captain Jason Moeller went down with a shoulder injury early it did not look good for the Eagles. The Eagles showed great fight and in a quality game they only went down by 17 points.
Best for the Eagles was Josh Shephard and he was well supported by Matthew Power and Scott Pierce. The score at the final siren was Pennant Hills 10.11 (71) to the Eagles 8.6 (54).
The only joy on the day come from the Challenge Cup team and coach Jon Lee must be extremely happy with the progress of the team this season. They only won two games last year and they have matched that feat after just five games in season 2008.
The Eagles ran out winners by 21 points, 8.7 (55) to 5.4 (34).
Robert Goisisi was best and Murray Bamforth and Dale Canaway were also very good.
Next week the seniors have a bye while the lower grades have the following fixtures:
Reserves
Eagles v UNSW/ES at UNSW/ES at 2.00pm on Saturday
Premier Cup under 18
Eagles v Riverview at Riverview 10.00am on Sunday
Challenge Cup
Eagles v Southern Sharks at Gwawley Oval at 10.00am on Saturday
