The difference between the good sides and the really good sides is the perpetual appetite for improvement.
Noble Park was clinical on Saturday, but coach Steve Hughes still feels his side has areas to improve.
Before Saturday the Bulls hadn’t beaten Vermont on its home deck since 2011, last defeated the powerhouse in 2015 and since 2012 had a record of 17 losses and two wins.
Though the record is damming, make no mistake, this was a demolition of the highest order.
The Bulls restricted the Eagles to just three minor scores until the 18th minute mark of the third term, and at times, looked like a side full of men, playing against boys in the 13.10 (88) to 5.7 (37) thrashing.
But while the Bulls walked out of stoppages, repeatedly gang tackled, kicked goals from nowhere, and were defensively impenetrable; Hughes still thinks there is some room for cleaner ball use.
“I don’t think it was a complete performance, but it was hugely positive,” he said.
“I think we can just tidy up our ball use and some of our entries, just the fundamental skills of our forwards, but I am nit-picking a bit.
“I am obviously very pleased with how they went about it, there is always room for improvement, but overall it was a good day.”
Noble Park is known for keeping sides under 100, conceding just five triple-figure scores in its last 30 appearances, but at no point did Hughes expect his side to keep an opposition unit goalless until the cusp of red time in the third.
“We would never expect to keep any side – let alone Vermont – goalless until half way through the third, I think it was a by a product of our pressure around the contest,” he said.
“Our back six I thought were excellent, led by Ryan Morrison, but also a young fella we have back there at the moment called Liam Scott.
“He has been a bit of a swingman for us, he has fit in really well back there.
“It is a defence first mentality and the players are buying into that… yeah we’re in a good space at the moment.”
On a day where a majority of Noble Park’s 22 found plenty of the footy, Hughes was pleased by the performance of his skipper.
Kyle Martin had 31 disposals, 15 clearances, 11 inside 50s and a goal, but it wasn’t his ball-winning that pleased Hughes; it was his hunger to do the grunt work through applying nine tackles.
“I would highlight Kyle on Saturday, it wasn’t a usual mid 40s (disposals) performance, but I think he had 30 odd and his tackling was a feature, I thought he led from the front on Saturday,” Hughes said.
“His pressure around the contest on Saturday was as good as anybody’s and when you have your skipper doing that the other blokes will follow.
“I would add Chris Horton-Milne to that, he has been huge for us since moving across from Dingley… he had the job on Lachie Johns on Saturday and I think it was a really good battle to watch.
“They probably broke even in the end. ‘Hodgey’ (Horton-Milne) probably got on top, which is a massive effort because we consider Lachie Johns probably the number one midfielder in the comp outside of our boys.
“Hodgey was great, Kyle was great and Sketch is doing his thing – our mids are going great.”
Rowville sits atop of the Eastern Football Netball League (EFNL) Premier Division ladder, after yet another win – this week over colossal outfit Norwood.
But like Hughes, Hawks coach Ben Wise isn’t settled with just the four points.
The Hawks led at every change in the nail-biter, securing a win that demonstrates more than what it has achieved in the past four weeks.
The first three games showed Wise’s side have the ability to kick goals and kick away for a cantering victory, but Saturday proved that the young Rowville group also have the ticker to scrap out a win.
By no means was it pretty, with Norwood actually kicking more goals, 5.16 (46) to 6.8 (44).
Though the calibre of this win is monumental in what Wise is setting out to achieve, he won’t be short of things he wants to work on at training this week.
“We were doing a lot of things right, it was probably just forward of centre and our last entry point,” he said.
“Norwood are renowned for having a lot of numbers behind the footy and their big fella – their ruckman (Michael) Wenn – sits behind the ball a lot and clogs up space.
“I think for our boys it was a learning curve dealing with a couple of extras behind the ball, at times we did it well in patches.
“A lot of the times we didn’t execute by kicking it to their loose, it is a big learning curve for us, learning how to combat that, we will review it pretty strongly so the boys understand what we need to do.
“With our goal-kicking I think we hit the post four or five times, a few unlucky snaps and easy set shots we could’ve kicked.
“I think in the third quarter we kicked seven behinds, if we had kicked three or four of those goals, I think it breaks the game open and makes it hard for them to assault a charge at us.”
With Rowville 3-0, atop of the ladder and already ahead of its 2-7 win-loss record of last year, a burning question has emerged.
What happened in the off-season at Seebeck Oval?
“Our list has changed, we have added a bit of class and a bit of experience,” Wise answered.
“All the boys that experienced games last year coming out of Covid… you know they were only 19.
“Getting a bit of experience into them, another pre-season and another year in the system of how I want them to play gives them a better understanding.
“We had some really good kids come up from the under-19’s and as everyone has spoken about, I have a few boys aligned at VFL clubs, so I have all these kids going and trying their luck at higher levels.
“So when they come back to me they’re in better shape than previous years. I think collectively we have all knuckled down and got ourselves in a spot to compete with the better sides.
“Our month from last game leading into the next three games was Norwood, Balwyn this week and South Croydon the following week, that is going to give us a good indication of where we are.”
LADDER: Rowville 12, South Croydon 12, Balwyn 8, Noble Park 8, Doncaster East 8, Park Orchards 8, Vermont 8, Norwood 4, Blackburn 4, Berwick 0, Doncaster 0, North Ringwood 0.
GOAL KICKERS: C Haley (Balwyn) 16, A Ainger (Vermont) 12, J Wilsen (South Croydon) 11, J Bennell (Norwood) 9, C Hickey (Park Orchards) 8.
FIXTURE – ROUND 4: Blackburn v Park Orchards (Friday night), Berwick v Doncaster, Norwood v Noble Park, Rowville v Balwyn, Vermont v North Ringwood, Doncaster East v South Croydon.
