There was no post bye rust for the Sunbury Lions as they stunned Bacchus Marsh early in their Ballarat Football League clash on Saturday.
After a loss two weeks ago to reigning premiers Melton, the Lions had a couple of weeks to stew on the result.
Expecting a hard slog heading into Saturday’s clash with the Cobras, coach Matthew White couldn’t have asked for much more in the first quarter.
The Lions jumped out of the blocks with eight goals in the first quarter to lead by 40 points at quarter time.
That set up the win with a much closer battle for the rest of the match, with the Lions winning 15.8 (98)-9.5 (59).
White was pretty ecstatic with the win.
“It was a nice way to return after the bye,” he said. “The way we started the game with eight goals in the first quarter into the breeze set us up for the win.
“We were able to settle and get the score on the board.”
White said after quarter time it was more of a battle with plenty of contested ball and nothing coming easy.
He said that was what they had expected coming into the game.
“Bacchus Marsh are travelling well even if they’re not going as well as they would like at home,” he said.
“We know at some stage they are going to click and they’ve got some star players. After a bye we thought it would be a dirty game and it turned dirty and into an arm wrestle after the first quarter.”
White said they had a number of contributors across the board which was really pleasing.
Josh Guthrie and Daniel Johnston kicked three goals each.
White said Guthrie was really good in the middle along with Jake Egan while Johnston was on track for a big day early.
The Lions had eight goal scorers despite being without leading goal kicker Jake Sutton who was called up to play in the Victorian Football League with Essendon.
“We were able to manipulate the forward line,” White said. “Jake is an important cog but we were still able to kick 15 goals.
“Having a number of guys kicking two or three goals each makes it more difficult for the opposition and makes it harder to defend.”
White was also impressed with the games of Nathan Wood and Tyson Lever down back, while the move of Jordie Tentonello to the wing gave him a new lease on life.
The challenges continue for the third placed Lions this week, who take on ladder leaders Darley.
The Devils are one of only two teams to beat the Lions this season.
White said they were looking forward to this one.
“There’s a rivalry there,” he said. “We are not that team yet and want to be like Melton, East Point and Darley that are top two-three teams every year.
“They are a team we have to beat. We’re at our home deck and after the way we played on the weekend we are looking forward to it.”
