Doveton Eagles veteran Paul Davis launches the Sherrin past the smothering hands of two Mt Waverley players.By Glen Atwell
THE Doveton Eagles fell just seven points short of beating Mt Waverley at Power Reserve in their Division Three match on Saturday.
A final-quarter surge brought the Eagles within one point of the Mountain Lions with two minutes to play, but Mt Waverley held on to register the victory.
Despite the loss, the Eagles, under new coach Jason Salerno, ran hard and attacked the ball with gusto for most of the game.
The first quarter belonged to Doveton as the Eagles played on at every opportunity, and won the term by five points.
New recruits Peter Dye and Darryl Thomas were busy racking up the possessions in the second quarter, but the hard-running intensity had disappeared from the Doveton side and Mt Waverley kicked five unanswered goals to take a 26-point lead into the main break.
But memories of the second-half fade-outs that plagued the Eagles’ 2006 season were quickly erased as the two sides went goal for goal in the third term.
Facing a 29-point deficit, the Eagles dominated the last quarter, booting seven goals to three.
Doveton drew to within a point of Mt Waverley before a last-gasp goal to the Mountain Lions extended the lead back to seven and slammed the door shut on any possible comeback.
But coach Salerno said it was not all bad news for the Eagles.
“There was a lot of positives to take from the game. I was happy with the performance of our guys,” he said.
“We ran the game out well and worked hard when they gave us a sniff of victory. If a couple of line balls had of gone our way we might have escaped with a win.”
Doveton look to have improved in every position on the ground this year, and new recruits Brett Colbert, Matthew Fristad, Dye and Thomas all shone on Saturday.
Dye kicked four goals in the second half, while Thomas improved as the game went on.
Colbert dominated his half-back flank position in the final quarter and Fristad, at just 18 years old, impressed at full-back.
Salerno said it was pleasing to see so many of the side’s young players playing convincing football.
“I said last week that this year our losses would be just as exciting and competitive as our wins, and that was the case,” he said,
The Eagles tackle Cerberus at Power Reserve this Saturday after poor ground conditions at the navy base forced the game to be transferred.
