By Lachlan Mitchell
Cranbourne was back at Livingston Reserve on Saturday for its first-ever home game in Southern Division One.
The game was scheduled for a later 2:30 start on a blowy Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles were coming up against St Paul’s McKinnon who was coming off an 87-point thumping from Bentleigh at home.
Cranbourne got the ball rolling in the first quarter thanks to champion full-forward Marc Holt, who got his side of to the best possible start.
The Eagles continued to dominate proceedings through the centre, with the run of Kirk Dickson providing gut-busting possession through the middle.
Cranbourne went into the main break with a 45-point lead and continued to extend their advantage in the second half.
An eight goal third quarter hammered home the advantage.
St Paul’s kicking only four goals after the main break to see Cranbourne win by 77 points.
Cranbourne Coach Steve O’Brien was pleased with his side’s result, but knows more can be done.
“It was a pretty pleasing performance,” he said.
“To have a convincing win like that was a great result for us.”
Cranbourne had to contend with the wind pushing to the easterly end of the ground.
“The wind sort of picked up,” O’Brien said.
“Once it got windy it was obviously going to make an impact and we made use of it early in the game and continued to pull away, which was really good.”
The convincing win still sees Cranbourne with plenty to work on over the coming weeks.
“We were really pleased ,we were able to kick a convincing score,” O’Brien began.
“That side of our game is working really well; we just have a few thing to tidy up defensively.
“It was a pretty convincing team performance, that’s why we got the result.
“We had a lot of significant contributions.
“Nick Darbyshire played one of the best games; he’s played for our club.”
Cranbourne-legend Holt was at his best again this week kicking five goals to add to his five in round one.
“He’s just been a wonderful player for so long,” O’Brien said.
“He just gets frustrated at times, cause he puts such huge expectations on himself.
“He wasn’t that happy with his game, but he still managed to kick five goals, most others would be pretty happy with that.
“He’s pretty demanding on himself but he’s a significant player.
“It’s not only about the amount of goals he kicks, it’s about the overall game he played.”
With Cranbourne winning both games by comprehensive margins the game plan is looking good moving into the season.
“We highlighted some things we need to get better at,“ O’Brien expressed.
“I thought we were able to rectify a number of things, and then after the game in the debrief we identified things we have to continually get better at.
“You are never going to play the perfect game, we are always going to iron out things and work on a few defensively.”
In other matches in round two, Springvale felt the full force of St Kilda City, with premiership Magpie Dane Swan kicking two goals to help the Saints over the line by 41 points.
Dingley had a close contest with Port Melbourne. The Colts kicking five fourth-quarter goals to fall 22 points short.
East Malvern could only manage five goals in its clash against Bentleigh. Demons-forward Jakob De Winter with five goals to see his side victors by 37-points.
Mordialloc also got over Cheltenham by 33 points to remain undefeated in season 2022.
Southern Division One
Most Goals
Mark Holt- Cranbourne Eagles 10
Daniel Degois – St Kilda City 7
Justin Van Unen – Dingley 7
Jakob De Winter – Bentleigh 6
Tyson Barry – Cranbourne Eagles 6
