By Tyler Lewis
Brandon White is in sizzling form.
The Devon Meadows recruit has kicked 16 goals from five games… as a midfielder.
Panthers coach Ryan Hendy is resting White forward after his stints in the midfield, and the former St Kilda Saint is relishing the opportunity.
On Saturday White fired off another six majors in his sides 15.15 (105) to 6.8 (44) win over Hastings.
And while Hendy expected a hefty contribution from White, he wasn’t planning for this type of impact.
“Whitey is a class player, he has played at the highest level so we were expecting him to be pretty useful in this comp, but he has exceeded our expectations, risen the bar to a new level,” he said.
“He has been playing midfield and kicking goals, his start to the season has been unbelievable.
“I always thought he could go forward. Last year at Beaconsfield he sort of played midfield and then went back.
“I just thought he had the attributes to be a forward. He has great hands and he can kick the ball 60 metres…when we put him forward he never loses a one on one and is just class.”
White had five goals and 34 disposals against Mornington on Anzac Day and backed it up with half a dozen on the weekend.
Though he has been playing predominantly midfield this year, illness kept him inside 50.
“He actually kicked six on the weekend, he kicked 6.6, had 12 scoring shots,” Hendy said.
“He predominantly played forward on the weekend, he didn’t train all week and was 50-50 whether he was going to play… he probably only played at 60 per cent on Saturday and had 12 shots on goal.”
Devon Meadows is currently third on the MPNFL Division 2 ladder behind second-seed Somerville on percentage.
Hendy agrees his side could potentially be flying under the radar behind Somerville and Langwarrin, but admitted it’s the way he prefers it.
“We are, but that’s the way I like it,” he said.
“We started off the season against Pearcedale where we had to play a heap of kids and conditions didn’t suit, but no excuses, we didn’t put in a great effort.
“Since our round one clash we have gelled together as a team, there is a lot of new blokes into the side, it was always going to take some time to gel.
“I think we are really gelling now and we are playing some good footy.
“We are looking forward to the challenge this week. We get Langwarrin at home and the way we’re playing we give ourselves a good chance against the best side in the comp.”
Devon Meadows has Langwarrin, before Seaford and Tyabb to round out the month of May.
Pearcedale, meanwhile, clung onto a firm victory over Mornington.
It was an arm wrestle all day for the Dales, who held off a fast finishing Dogs outfit, 8.12 (60) to 8.10 (58).
