Right: Beaconsfield defender Dean Ziesler had a hard day at the office against Pakenham on Saturday with the Lions forwards including Daniel Fry and Simon Ponter proving a handful on the day.By Brad Kingsbury
THE return of teenage forward prospect Daniel Fry to the Pakenham senior side on Saturday played a major role in the Lions 53point win over Beaconsfield.
Fry marked strongly and booted five goals in the key forward post, releasing prolific teammates Simon Ponter and Troy Willis who took advantage of opportunities up field and chipped in with three goals each.
The Lions always looked to have the wood on their opponents, despite Beaconsfield’s core of experience revolving around Kris Fletcher, Robbie Taylor, Daniel Charles and coach Haydn Robins who spent most of the day at half forward with Joel Padley as his opponent.
Pakenham shot away to a 20point lead at quartertime and extended that to 30 points at halftime, with both sides playing open football on the wide expanses of the Toomuc Reserve.
Inform Lion Jared Goldsack racked up possessions at will around the midfield and dominated the game from the outset, while youngsters John Atwell and Beau Wheeler created drive around the ground along with Joe Allen.
The Eagles outscored Pakenham in the third term, but still trailed by 24 points at the final change and the home side composed itself in the last quarter, running away to record a convincing win over their traditional rivals.
Talented Beaconsfield forward Luke McConnell was among his side’s best with six goals and Robins said his effort had been a minor victory.
“We tried to isolate McConnell and Robbie Elston in the goalsquare and that worked okay,” Robins said.
“It wasn’t our worst performance, but it’s the same story with a young group and we just have to keep trying to get the message across. It really is a learning experience and until they start to use their heads, it’s going to be a battle.
“Pakenham was really good. They’ve got a really good mix of senior players and kids coming through and they’re ahead of us in development,” he said.
Lions’ coach Michael Holland was disappointed with certain aspects of the match including some discipline issues, one that cost the side a goal after Ponter received three consecutive 50metre penalties for backchat.
However Holland was still pleased with the overall result.
“We played some pretty good footy in patches, but we continue to have our lapses and there were a few undisciplined things from a few blokes that proved costly,” he said.
“We probably should have won by a bit more really. We have to stay focussed, because the next couple of games are big ones for us and they will probably set our season up.”
