By ADEM SARICAOGLU
HILLSIDE’S claim as the team to beat in Division Two of the Essendon District Football League was backed up on the field against Coburg Districts on Saturday.
Districts are an unknown quantity in the EDFL and would have fancied their chances against the Sharks, but Hillside got this year’s campaign off to a perfect start, winning by 91 points on the road.
Though not at full strength, Hillside got the job done with its two biggest names, Ryan Hargrave and Aisakie O’hAilpin, suiting up in the Teal, Black and White for the first time.
Coach Steve Kolyniuk was happy his side was finally able to live up to the pre-season hype and deliver a strong message where it matters most – on the field.
“You go there expecting to win because we think we’ve had a pretty good pre-season, but you never know until you turn up and Coburg were the unknown,” he said.
“On the scoreboard I don’t think the gap was that great between the two sides.”
The Sharks blitzed Coburg Districts in the opening term and by quarter time already had a six-goal buffer.
By half time the margin was 52 points and at the final change it was 59, before seven goals to one in the final term inflated the final margin beyond 15 goals.
Kolyniuk believes Hillside was simply better prepared than the home team.
“The scoreboard flattered us a little bit, it was a good contest,” he said.
“You look at the scoreboard and see we won by 15 goals and think it must have been pretty easy, but it was a much more hard-fought contest than the scoreboard suggested.”
Leading the charge up forward was Fabio Dilizia, who kicked six goals and was one of the best players on the ground.
Luke Pulitano was given the honours for best on, and managed to kick two goals of his own.
Another three Sharks also managed multiple goals, while each of the six goals kicked by Coburg Districts came from six different individuals.
Next week the Sharks will host East Sunbury and will be expecting to easily win by a three-figure margin, before they face reigning premier East Keilor a week later.
