By Jonty Ralphsmith
From quarter time onwards, the fortunes of each forward line trended in opposite directions, which proved influential in Endeavour Hills’ premiership win over Frankston Dolphins on Sunday.
The Endeavour Hills forward line looked dynamic and aerially potent, while the Dolphins attackers, accustomed to having room and the speed to escape defenders, had nowhere to go in a clogged forward area.
Ryan Johnson had confidence from early in the game and a full season of plucking grabs, while Alex Cann also came into it as the game went on, with his strong dukes generating scoring opportunities.
Ben Virgona fearlessly attacked hardballs which, along with his two goals, earned his team a downfield free kick that directly led to a goal.
One of Virgona’s two came when he approached a loose ball running full steam towards the boundary line and got the right curl on it to bend the left footer through from 40.
“It was bloody unbelievable,” coach Matt Peake said.
“He won our twos best and fairest last year and only played three games in the seniors so it has been a turnaround in the mindset of contributing.”
Sam McLean also remained alert, with the entries to him in-sync which allowed him to score two goals.
“It’s making sure we’re not one-person centric and everything stems from that,” said best-on-ground Ryan Johnson.
“Us as a forward group have a good understanding and are really good at isolating a player who has a hot hand for a 10-minute period.
“We’ve got a really versatile forward line and on any given day, anyone can pop up and everyone chipped in today as well.”
Midfielders Bailey Baumann and Liam Hasler were also each able to score goals with the frontal pressure that the Dolphins faced after quarter time unmatched up the other end, where midfielders had time to assess options, and forwards won their positions.
“It’s so hard between Wooster (Jordan Waite) and (Rich) Mathers and (Jak) Nardino, they’re incredible footballers and we had to play disciplined footy, and we’ve been preaching for a couple of years that our defenders are the best in the league,” captain Nathan Reid said.
“They stick to their task and that was the story again.
“There’s times where players will be too good and you have to live with it and there’s times where the structure you’ve built for five years comes to fruition and that last quarter was it: the culmination of five years of hard work under (Matt Peake).”
Role players Devlyn Hasler, Jimmy Archer, Ben Holland, Reid and Ben Swift led the backline.
