By Tyler Lewis
It took a handful of bona fide stars to knock Cranbourne off its perch.
The Eagles suffered their second loss of the Southern Football Netball League (SFNL) season, after ex-AFL stars Dane Swan, Brendan Fevola and Aaron Edwards ran riot at Livingston Reserve.
Edwards (five goals) and Fevola (four goals) combined for nine majors, while Swan gathered a stack of the footy in the 13.9 (87) to 8.7 (55) win over Cranbourne.
And though on paper it appears the two key-forwards double-handedly won the game for the Saints, Cranbourne coach Steve O’Brien revealed it was the engine room that let him down.
“Definitely in the midfield for me,” he said of where the game was lost.
“In the first quarter, things were going good for us, credit to St Kilda City, they changed a few things up and out-hunted us through the middle of the ground.
“They were getting the ball into their forwards and it was a pretty dangerous forward line, they did the rest of the work.”
Up against a star-studded side, that also included local guns Madi Andrews and Luke Potts, O’Brien explained how difficult it is to contain such calibre of players.
“Yeah, look you can’t contain them all,” he said.
“That is where winning the midfield battle is crucial, because that can deny clean entry into their forwards.
“That was where the battle was always going to be won and lost, unfortunately we lowered our colours through the middle of the ground.
“All those guys are in pretty good knick I might add, they’re fit still, and I know big Fev (Brendan Fevola) had lost about 14kgs so he’s probably in better shape than what most people imagined.
“And Swanny is in really good knick.”
And though a Cranbourne goal-kickers list that doesn’t feature Marc Holt’s name usually sparks concern, O’Brien revealed he was playing a different role when the Eagles had the run of the game.
“After quarter time we didn’t get good entries,” O’Brien said.
“Holty is prepared to sacrifice his game for others, he was doing that early and it was working for us, clearly.
“But then after that, when we were hoping for him to take control, we didn’t get any clean ball coming into our forward 50, which made it really hard for him.
“They were dropping one back in there and that made it tough.”
In other results: Port Melbourne Colts kicked truly to defeat Mordialloc 12.9 (81) to 7.8 (50) and St Paul’s McKinnon dismantled East Malvern 23.16 (154) to 3.7 (25). Dingley beat Springvale Districts 10.16 (76) to 7.8 (50) and Cheltenham surged to pole position on the SFNL ladder after thumping Bentleigh 15.22 (112) to 4.6 (30).
LADDER: Cheltenham 40, Cranbourne 40, St Paul’s McKinnon 36, St Kilda City 32, Dingley 28, Springvale Districts 20, Mordialloc 20, Port Melbourne Colts 16, Bentleigh 8, East Malvern 8.
FIXTURE: East Malvern v Cranbourne, Port Melbourne Colts v Bentleigh, Cheltenham v St Paul’s McKinnon, St Kilda City v Dingley, Springvale Districts v Mordialloc.
