By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pressure, fitness and intensity.
Those were the three ingredients behind Doveton’s upset win against Murrumbeena at Robinson Reserve on Saturday.
The Doves, who were defeated by the premiership favourites by 18 points earlier in the season, flipped the script, consigning the Lions to their first loss of the season with a complete four quarter performance.
A three quarter arm-wrestle gave way to a final term onslaught as Doveton ran away 14.7 91 to 8.4 52 victors.
Goals in the first three quarters came in spasmodic bursts in a game that was otherwise underlined by two sides fierce at the contest and with sound defensive setups.
Rangy tall forward Matt Clarke kicked a goal late in the third quarter which resulted in a sixth and final lead change, the Doves going into the last break leading by six points.
Given an extended rev-up at three-quarter-time, Doveton came out firing in the fourth quarter.
First it was Sam Muirhead, the key forward playing the roll of a small and gathering a loose ball deep inside 50 to extend Doveton’s lead to 12.
Then Deakyn Smith finished around the corner at the seven-minute mark.
Will and Deakyn Smith and Max Sheppard all linked up to get it deep to a Clarke one-on-one in the goalsquare for a simple conversion.
It felt like something had shifted which allowed the Doves to skip away, but coach Matt Stapleton asserted it was the product of three quarters of work rate paying off.
“I didn’t think we did too much different,” Stapleton said.
“I thought we were consistent throughout the day and we just kept at it and in the fourth quarter we got good entries and our forwards were able to clunk some marks.
“I thought it was an even performance across four quarters and it eventually turned our way on the scoreboard.”
Facing a side accustomed to its smaller home ground, the recipe throughout the day was chaining uncontested marks and opening up the width of Robinson Reserve.
Doveton was able to do that on the back of their ascendancy in tight, winning the midfield battle and applying heat and perceived pressure when they didn’t get first hands on it.
“We spoke about (the size of the ground) but you still have to go out there and execute it,” Stapleton said.
“We went out there and worked hard and wanted to use it to our advantage which we did.”
The Doves started rapidly, putting two goals on in the first three minutes, via Max Sheppard and Lochie Conboy, capitalising on the Doves winning the first two centre clearances.
The opening scenes made a statement: Doveton brought intensity and cleanliness.
Murrumbeena quickly responded with two of their own, and three of the last four goals of the quarter to neutralise after Doveton capitalised on their early flat footedness.
The second quarter started much the same way as the first: two centre clearance goals in two minutes
Former AFL man Deakyn Smith, playing his third game of the season for Doveton, opened proceedings before Matt Clarke got in on the act.
After four goals in the first six minutes of the second quarter, both teams were stagnated by each other’s sound defensive setups and two-way midfield running.
The game ground to a halt in the last 12 minutes of the term, with no goals scored and neither able to sustain momentum or possession, the Doves going into the main break leading by five points.
The third quarter started much the same way, with the dogfight broken by Conboy who stepped through traffic and converted at the seven-minute mark, but Murrumbeena immediately responded.
Neither team was willing to take risks as both teams proved impenetrable for another 12 minutes, as winger Ricky Johnson livened up with plenty of footy played between the arcs.
Murrumbeena took the lead back against the run of play early in stoppage time of the third quarter, before Lochie Conboy’s pressure helped Doveton quickly respond.
Doveton had worn Murrumbeena down and were able to run away with victory to solidify themselves in premiership conversations.
Classy Clarke
When the game needed someone to stand up, Clarke delivered.
He finished with four goals, including three as Doveton pulled away from the plucky visitors.
He marked just inside the field of play at the 23-minute mark of the third quarter to effect the final lead change of the match, which gave him the impetus for a match-sealing last quarter.
Clarke took five crucial marks, including four contested, in the first half of the last quarter to help propel Doveton to victory.
The two came in the same forward thrust, which led to a Sam Muirhead goal.
The second came at the top of 50, using his strength to outmaouvre hit opponent; then quickly hit up Deakyn Smith who extended the margin to 18.
He was then targeted on the goal line and marked in the square to effectively ice the game.
It wasn’t just his marking, though – he also twice intelligently palmed it down to teammates who were able to run onto the ball and hit a target without breaking stride.
One of those tap downs led to another Sam Muirhead goal.
By the time he kicked his fourth, the Doves knew they were home, almost doubling their score in a quarter of footy.
Having played footy previously for both Officer and Noble Park, he’s proven a shrewd acquisition and provides flexibility, having played as a forward, winger and midfielder in 2024.
“The ways he moves his body and gets himself into good positions to take marks and his hands are superb as well,” Stapleton noted.
“The combination of those two things ends in that – he was pivotal for us.”
Doughty Doves defenders
Murrumbeena key pillars Todd Elton and Steve Tolongs sit second and third in the league goal kicking, with 41 and 33 goals respectively.
Until Saturday, neither had been held goalless, with the pair playing 22 games and kicking multiples in 19 of them.
Elton is a former Richmond key forward standing at 197cm and with 12 games of AFL experience, while Tolongs is a known local footy goal kicker, averaging more than two goals per game every season since 2015.
The Lions’ premiership credentials is built off their reliability up forward.
While the delivery was affected by the high pressure applied up the field, Murrumbeena still had several periods of ascendancy.
Matthew Jameson lined up on Tolongs, while Jake Ingaliso took Elton, both splitting or winning crucial one on ones and taking them away from dangerous, deep territory.
Jameson’s closing speed was noteworthy, while Ingaliso’s leap and read of the play allowed him to compete despite giving up significant height and strength.
The pair were named the two best players afield by the Doves coaches.
You give specific roles to those guys and they were able to execute today,” Stapleton said.
”That was helped by our guys around the footy and other backmen rolling off and assisting.”
Silky Smith
Deakyn Smith played his second consecutive game for the Doves on Saturday, and third of the season.
Smith was last season on Melbourne’s AFL list and has always been a Dove at heart, playing in a senior premiership as a teenager.
He looked a class above on Saturday, standing up in crucial moments and delivering across the four quarters.
Lining up alongside brother and former league medalist Will, there were several link ups between the pair.
The coach noted that there was a visible lift in the team’s performance last week against Skye – which they carried into this week – and it’s no coincidence that has coincided with Smith’s return.
“Anywhere he plays on the ground, he’s such a dangerous player,” Stapleton said.
“There were times he was in the midfield today and times he was forward and we spoke about it in round 1 – where he goot himself in good positions but maybe didn’t clunk them or get used but now that he has played a few games with us and trained with us, he’s taking those marks.”
