‘Steel’ Eagles back

By Brad Kingsbury
‘DISCIPLINE’ and ‘Cranbourne’ are two words that have seldom been mentioned in the same sentence for almost a football generation.
Well, that has changed because the steely focussed 2009 Eagles announced their arrival as a force in the Casey Cardinia League on Saturday with a convincing 24-point win over Narre Warren at Fox Road.
The influence of no-nonsense coach Doug Koop was never so evident as when the game was there to be won at three-quarter time and it was his players who listened and carried out his instructions to the letter in the final 25 minutes of play, never letting the young Magpies back into the contest.
“They did what I asked and as a coach you can’t ask for anything more than that,” he said in the jubilant Eagles rooms afterwards.
“It’s always hard against Narre Warren and they smashed us both times last year, so we had to overcome that mentally. That made the effort even more pleasing.”
The visitors were on their game from the first bounce, winning the ball through the midfield and keeping the supply up to strong-marking targets Marc Holt and Troy Tharle-Adams.
After trailing by 25 points at the first change, Narre Warren snapped into action and peppered the goals throughout the second quarter, but butchered the ball inside the forward 50, kicking 6.9 to 2.3 for the term.
Youngsters Ben Wragg, Chris Potalej, Justin Marriott and Guy Miller started to run the ball into attack and, although the Magpies only led by five points at half-time, the signs were ominous for Cranbourne.
However there was no panic in the Eagles’ camp. Coach Doug Koop stuck with his solid and accountable game plan and his players did the rest.
They answered every push that the home side made in the third quarter and ground their way on top to kick away to a 14-point three-quarter time lead on the back of team-lifting efforts from playmakers Stuart Morrish, Curtis Barker and Matt Fletcher.
At the final change, with the result still in the balance, Koop asked his players to be accountable for their opponent, apply pressure at every contest and to control the tempo of the game with every possession.
Narre Warren coach Matthew Shinners had little choice but to send his players out with instructions to attack.
However, the die had been cast and the Eagles superior maturity and discipline saw them dominate the contested ball and rebound every Magpie attack through the steadiness of defenders Troy Datson, Callum Lester and exciting teenage wingman Ryan Jones.
Despite Holt getting the goalkicking yips in the final term, the work rate of his teammates meant that the ball was in attack more often than not and all the Magpies could do in the end was admire the single-minded focus of their opposition and take heed.
Shinners said that communication and the discipline to play to the side’s free-flowing game plan were two of the weaker points in his inexperienced outfit’s effort, however the lessons would be well learned.
“At three-quarter time we’ve been in a position like that for the last three weeks and our leg speed and pressure has got us over the line, but not today,” he said.
“They didn’t allow us to get into the game at all in the last quarter. They applied pressure, they used the ball well and in the second half our backline players were led to the footy.
“We should have lost by 10 goals (and) we were just lucky they didn’t kick straight in the last quarter.
“A game like this was probably always going to happen and we have to learn from it.”
Injuries to key young big men Cameron Bell and Aaron Mills have had a big effect on the side and Shinners admitted that the pressure was starting to show.
“Joel (Broadhurst) has been playing ruck for the last five weeks and he’s only 17.
“We just haven’t had anyone to give him a chop out and that is always going to have an effect over time,” he said.
“It’s something we have to manage, but there isn’t any magic cure.”
A satisfied Koop gave feedback to each player individually, as he does each week, and was high in praise for several including Curtis Barker, Jones, Morrish and Tharle-Adams, but said that every player had contributed and that was the most pleasing aspect of the overall effort.
“Narre Warren is a very good side, but I was pleased at the way we stuck to the task and yes the last quarter was outstanding,” he said.
“We jumped out of the blocks and then they came back strong in the second quarter and they did miss goals that they should have kicked.
“To stick to our guns and apply the pressure we did was very pleasing. It’s another stepping stone for us in learning to be a good side.”
Koop added that while his side’s early season form was encouraging, they were well aware of the challenges ahead in a very even season.
“We probably got a bit carried away with a couple of early wins and we were really disappointed (when we played) against Pakenham. It was a really good reality check for us,” he said.
“We focussed on what we did wrong against Pakenham and have worked pretty hard since. I think that is starting to show, but there is still plenty of improvement needed.”