Tara Murray
There was plenty of relief as the Sunbury Kangaroos finally got on the board in the Essendon District Football League division 2 competition.
Having lost their first five games by under four goals, the Kangaroos could have considered themselves unlucky to be without a win.
That changed on Saturday, as they easily won the Sunbury derby against East Sunbury.
The Thunder also entered the match without a win.
The Kangaroos were the better side in the first half and slowly pushed the margin out to 31 points at the main break.
The Kangaroos found another level in the third quarter and with a 62 point lead at three quarter time, they had all but secured their first win.
An eight goal final quarter iced the result, with the Kangaroos winning 21.13 (139)-4.12 (36).
Kangaroos coach Shanon Carroll said it was a relief to finally have a win.
“It’s more for the boys,” he said. “The guys have put in so much effort over the last few weeks and even the pre-season.
“We’d had little wins along the way, but not just on the scoreboard, it’s just a relief for them.”
Carroll said having played well for patches in other games, this was as close as they had got to a full four quarter performance.
He said it was good to see the group had learned the lessons from previous rounds and put them into play. He said the previous round they played really well in the third quarter, but weren’t able to finish it off
“We have some high standards and one of the things I said to the boys when I walked into the club, one of my favourite sayings is… The standard you walk past is the standard that you set,” he said.
“We knew that we needed to finish it off in the last quarter, it was really good to see.
“Almost four quarters, not quite as far as we’re concerned. We’ll take the scoreboard in the end, but more pleasing with the execution.”
Rhys Magin kicked six goals for the Kangaroos, finding plenty of space up forward and when he went into the middle.
Jordan James kicked four goals and Mitch Streiff kicked three goals.
Mitchell Kook and Magin were named the Kangaroos best along with Matthew Leonard.
Leonard has found himself in a new role this season, moving up into the forward line.
Carroll said it was about keeping him reinvigorated, while also using his smarts.
Another player that really impressed Carroll on Saturday was Blake Tirchett.
“There’s been a number of positives for a lot of these younger guys, Blake is one that we are really putting a lot of work into,” he said.
“We think that he can be a really dominant centre half back in the next few years, but at the same time what he had been able to do at the moment against some key centre half forwards has been second to none.
“I think today was a breakout game for him, more self belief game, that he is good enough and he can do it.”
Now with a win on the board. Carroll said they were hoping to build on that. This week they host Hadfield, which sits one spot above them on the ladder.
“I didn’t even speak to the players after the game, I wanted them to enjoy that moment, that’s been coming for a number of weeks,” he said. “I firmly believe if we had have got over the line in round one, we would have in round two and who knows from there and reality is that we didn’t.
“Now we’ve found a way to win and that will hopefully build that confidence.”
