By LIAM TWOMEY
THE Deer Park juggernaut continued to roll on in the Western Region Football League with Yarraville-Seddon the latest victim.
In just their second division one match, the Eagles matched it with their more highly fancied opponents for the first quarter, but the longer the match went on, the better Deer Park looked.
After trailing by four points at the first break, the Lions slammed on 19 goals during the next three quarters, and the margin ballooned to 91 points.
Yarraville coach David Connell said he was impressed with the start his side made.
“It wasn’t a normal preparation for us, but we knew about it coming in and we put a lot of planning into it,” Connell said.
“The boys started really well. We had done some homework and had some plans, and we were able to execute what we wanted to in the first quarter.
“We also missed a couple of gettable chances in the first quarter and we probably should have been three or four goals up.”
Sam Hunt was outstanding for Deer Park in the win, booting two goals and dominating the play throughout the afternoon to be named best on ground.
Up forward, it was an even spread of goal kickers for the Lions with Luke Buttigieg, Chris Stewart, Shylo Smith, Kwame McHarg and Kevin Klix all kicking multiple goals.
For Yarraville, Adam Baker was the leading goal scorer with three in the 24.17 (161) to 10.10 (70) loss.
Saturday’s result sees Deer Park maintain its unbeaten start to the season, with the Lions second on the WRFL ladder.
Yarraville slip to sixth place with a 1-1 win/loss record.
“We obviously went in (to the season) knowing that in the first four weeks we had North Footscray Deer Park, Port Colts and Hoppers, so we are playing potentially three out of four sides who will play finals or be around the mark,” Connell said.
“We thought if we could get to round four, we aimed at being something like a really good 1-3 and really competitive in the other games or even 2-2.
“We are still on track for where we thought we would be at in the first month of games. I think Saturday was more just about knowing that we could match them for two-and-a-half quarters, but we just weren’t good enough for long enough.”
When round three of the WRFL season gets underway this Saturday, Deer Park will meet Sunshine in a top-of-the-table clash while Yarraville will take on Port Melbourne Colts.
