By Marcus Uhe
A brutal 189-point win over Doncaster secured Rowville a top-two finish and an all-important double chance in the Eastern Football Netball League’s Premier Division, with finals to begin next week.
It’s the second consecutive year the Hawks had secured the best possible path to glory, having topped the league in 2022.
The Hawks were at risk of falling to third on percentage, given Balwyn’s defeat of Noble Park saw them tie on premiership points, but Ben Wise’s side ensured nothing was left to chance, inflicting the heaviest defeat of the EFNL’s Premier Division in 2023 over the 1st Division-bound Doncaster, winning 37.10 232 to 6.7 43 at Doncaster’s Schramms Reserve.
It was a devastating performance from the Hawks, who kicked 10 goals in each of the opening two quarters, before eight in the third and nine in the last for their seventh win in a row.
When the two met in round 12, it was a 147-point victory to Rowville, meaning the Sharks will be glad to see the back of them.
17 players hit the scoreboard for the Hawks with eight players doing it multiple times, led by Zachary Greeves’ eight, Max Martini’s five, and three each to Maverick Taylor, Anthony Brolic and Matt Davey.
It was an effort made all the more impressive considering Lachlan Wynd’s absence, selected for Box Hill’s VFL side, and Jake Arundell was held goalless, playing higher up the ground.
The start could hardly have gone better for Rowville, kicking five majors before Doncaster could broach its attacking 50.
They had nine on the board within 25 minutes, with Davey contributing three, before the Sharks finally hit the scoreboard in the 28th minute.
The second quarter shaped to follow a similar path with the Hawks starting the quarter with four goals, including Greeves’ second and third, but the Sharks were able to stem the bleeding earlier than they did in the previous term.
The bigger frames of Brolic and Lachlan McDonald overwhelmed the hosts at the contest before feeding the waiting outside runners of Nashua Wood, Josh Clarke and Brock Coleclough, who cut the defence to ribbons with their ball use.
Mitchell Sruk’s snap in the 28th minute from a tight angle saw the rampaging visitors clear the 100-point barrier before Tyler Edwards goaled after the siren for a 108-point lead at the long break.
Between the hosts’ second goal midway through the second term and their third late in the third quarter, the Hawks slammed on 13, refusing to take their feet off the accelerator.
The Hawks will put their feet up next week before facing Vermont in the second week of the finals at Bayswater Oval, with the chance to advance directly through to the grand final if successful, as they did 12 months ago.
A stuttering start to the campaign for the Hawks in which they lost their opening two contests and three of their first five is long-forgotten, having won 12 of its last 13 matches.
With 1793 total points scored, the Hawks finished just seven points shy of the 100 points per game mark, and boast the best percentage in the competition at 154.3, with average winning margin of 51 points.
Their only loss in that period, however, was to the Eagles in round 11, by 47 points, easily their greatest losing margin of the season.
The Eagles’ season bares similarities to Rowville’s, dropping two of their first three including a shock loss to Berwick before cruising in the second half of the season.
Since round three Vermont have lost just once, occupying top spot on the table for much of the campaign, their only loss coming to Blackburn in round nine.
Balwyn will play Blackburn and East Ringwood will face Doncaster in elimination finals next week, with the winners of those clashes to fight it out in week two.
