By Jonty Ralphsmith
Who said Marc Holt retired?
The big fella was back at home on Saturday, kicking snags in Cranbourne’s forward-line.
The talk from the Eagles all pre-season was that his retirement after the Eagles 2022 premiership was official and they would need to find other avenues to goal.
“You can’t replace a Holty, a local legend,” was the proverbial being sung from Livingston Reserve in the lead-in to 2023.
But he again turned out for his home club in the win over Chelsea Heights, kicking two goals in a 32-point win.
“He’s been weighing up what he’s doing,” coach Steve O’Brien revealed.
“He’s been training for a few weeks and decided that there is still some life in the old legs yet so he’s decided to pull the boots on.
“He was a little bit rusty as we expected, but he still contributed in a good way and had quite a few shots on goal, so he played his part and we know he’ll just get better from it.”
Chelsea Heights had the jump on the visitors in the first half before the reigning premiers’ class shone through when the game was on the line in the last quarter.
Zak Roscoe backed up his enormous first-up performance with another best-afield game, kicking three, while Jarrod Barker and Dillan Bass were also important.
“The first half, they outplayed us, credit to them, they were harder at the contest and getting first in for the footy so we had to have a reality check at halftime,” O’Brien said.
“In the third quarter we got the game on our terms a little bit, then in the last quarter, we were able to outrun them.
“We were blunt with our message at halftime and the boys responded like they always do for me.”
