Eagles back, Redbacks slack

By Brad Kingsbury
TIME was turned back at Beaconsfield on Saturday, when the Eagles suddenly regained their familiar aura of invincibility and smashed a pathetic Hampton Park by 64 points.
Casey Cardinia League followers had been surprised by Beaconsfield’s lack of system and intensity this year, despite a significant turnover of players.
However those problems look to have been remedied by the recent return of coach Haydn Robins to the goal square, together with the form revival of experienced performers including Chris Kelf, Robbie Taylor, Daniel Charles and Daniel Mislicki.
Robins followed his fivegoal comeback with another bag of six on Saturday.
As for the Redbacks, coach Jason Chapple was succinct in his appraisal of the latest blot on a forgettable season to date.
“We’re at rockbottom and we’re in a position where we could go through the year winning two games,” he said bluntly.
“We’ve got no confidence, we’re selfish and we were second to the ball. Some players are counting their games, not making their games count. I don’t want players like that in my side.
“I don’t care if they’ve won a Brownlow. If they’re not having a go, I’m not picking them,” he seethed, foreshadowing wholesale changes at selection this week.
His reaction was justified after his side’s insipid performance against the young Eagles.
The day started badly for Chapple after the lastminute withdrawal of ill recruit Linden Fredericks, forced him to pull on the boots himself.
From the first bounce the traffic was all oneway, with Kelf giving his onballers first use, despite gallant opposition from Redback 200gamer Matt Egan.
The Hampton Park midfield was nonexistent in the opening term and basic disposal errors proved costly in defence with the Eagles having nine shots at goal to one and leading by 23 points at quarter time.
The momentum did not change from then on, apart from a lapse by the Eagles in the last quarter, and outofform Redbacks including Josh Taylor, Matt Shorey, Ryan Simpson, Mark Griffiths, Dean Jamieson and Sean Nunan were little more than passengers.
On the positive side, Redback recruit Hayden Fredericks had a great tussle with Robins, while Brett Armitage, Scott Gilder (seven goals) and Mick O’Brien battled it out all day.
For Beaconsfield the game was a beauty.
Their experienced players were complimented by youngsters including Ash Drake, Daniel Battaglin, Damien Szwaja, Ryan Jolliffe and James Magner and Robins was happy but, like all coaches, still not fully satisfied.
“It was the first time this year that I thought our midfield functioned well,” he said.
“We were a lot better, but we still let ourselves down in the first 10 minutes of the final quarter and let them back in for a few easy goals.
“It’s a learning process, but we’re moving in the right direction and improving.”