Tara Murray
The Sunbury Kangaroos’ drew on the spirit of their first senior premiership side, as they broke through for their first win of the Essendon District Football League division 1 season.
In a tough season, the highs have been few and far between for the Kangaroos as they fight for survival in division 1.
On Saturday, the Kangaroos were able to hold off Craigieburn at Boardman Reserve, to win 10.11 (71)-9.7 (61).
Kangaroos coach Leigh Sporle was not only a happy man, but a relieved one.
“It was good to get the win,” he said. “It’s been a tough year with the cards we’ve been dealt.
“A lot of it has been out of our hands.”
The Eagles started the better of the two teams and led by eight points at quarter time. The Kangaroos kicked the only four goals of the second quarter to open up a 19 point lead at the main break.
Neither team scored a goal in the third quarter, but Sporle thought they should have been able to open up the game.
“We had a lot of the footy,” he said. “We should have put a few more scores on the board.
“We knew they would come back and we had to settle it down and we stuck to the game plan.”
The Eagles did come and reduced the margin to less than a goal with five minutes to go.
The Kangaroos were able to steady with three late goals to get the win.
Sporle said he was really proud of the group, especially the on field leaders who calmed the side down in the dying minutes.
Many of those players were in the club’s 2012 premiership side, the first senior premiership for the club.
Majority of that team was at Boardman watching the match, as the club hosted a 10 year reunion.
“Seven of those guys [playing today] were in that premiership team,” he said. “A lot of them were quite young, but they’re now the leaders.
“To hear from [premiership player] Joeb [Ploog] before the game got the lads up and about. They got to play in front of a big crowd and with their mates cheering them on.”
Cooper McPharlane kicked three goals for the Kangaroos in the win, while Nathan Carroll and John Corso kicked two goals each.
Sporle said Corso was best on ground, providing plenty of pressure. He said overall there was a real even spread of contributors.
“We went in with a game plan and we stuck to it,” Sporle said. “We got the match ups right and it paid off.”
The win was enough to move the Kangaroos off the bottom of the ladder. They now sit percentage ahead of Moonee Valley in the relegation battle.
Sporle hopes that this win might kick start their season.
“We’ve got a young side and we want to improve each year,” he said. “We’ve got a bit backwards this year, but I think we can still shock a few sides.”
It was a good day for the Kangaroos, with their under-18.5s and reserves sides also getting wins.
This week the Kangaroos face Westmeadows, which is coming off a big win against Roxburgh Park.
Meanwhile, Rupertswood suffered a shock loss to Hillside.
