The Murrumbateman Eagles continued to fly high amongst the rest of the competition over the weekend with a 13.11.89 – 3.4.22 win against the Googong Hogs at Rockley Oval in Googong.
The Eagles were beneficiaries of their own brilliant second half defensive performance, not conceding a point after the half time intermission.
Coach Andy Ingold was pleased with his sides win.
“We had a slow start. We had a bit of a chat at quarter time on manning up in that game. They came up good, and they worked as a team from quarter time onwards and sort of ran away with it. It was good,” Ingold said.
“We’re just going out there and enjoying footy. We’re having fun and playing as a team and the results are going our way.
“I don’t know if the comp is ours to lose or not to be honest. I don’t know if we’ve played a top-four side yet. We will get a gauge of how good we are in the coming weeks.
“We’ve got to go to Cooma this weekend, and that’ll be a tough challenge. We haven’t played the likes of Molongolo or Woden yet. That will tell us where we sit.”
After beginning the season in jeopardy of not being able to field a side, Ingold says the Eagles are now spoilt for choice in a complete 180 of sorts.
“It sounds weird from where we were at. Five weeks prior to this season we didn’t have a side, now we’ve got 30 guys and we’ve been able to replace people who are sick or unable to make it for whatever reason,” he continued.
“I called an emergency meeting before the season because we had 14 guys committed, and said, guys, Hilly (Adam Hill) and I can only do a certain amount and the committee can only do a certain amount to attract players and I put it to you guys to call your mates, call whoever and see who we can get on board and sure enough, that’s what happened. They made a few calls to mates and here we are.
“There was three options there. Do it ourselves, amalgamate with another club or not play at all and the last option was not an option for me, we weren’t going to fold.
“All the players understood the circumstances we were in and made calls to mates. We made a few call-outs, advertised it, and players came in from different places.
“Jack White was exceptional. He was our best on the ground. Other players to stand out were Kaiden Armstrong, who always has a good game down the back; Josh Armstrong played well, and Matthew Bell kicked five goals. He had a good game.
“It was really hard. As I said to the players after the game, when we were doing the awards, Hilly and I could have picked anyone. When they’re playing together like a team like that and they’re performing so well like a team, it is quite hard to pick out the best players.
“Matthew Wall had an outstanding game as well.
“Their whole teamwork at the moment is going to plan, and as I said, after quarter time, once we had a chat to them and went back to our game plan, they certainly went a lot better.
“The confidence is high, but it is important not to get too overconfident. I think in situations like this and we haven’t played a top-four side yet, so we are just taking it week by week and just seeing where we go.
“The confidence is high. We go into games confident, but we can’t go into games too overconfident against any side at the moment.
“Once the confidence turns into overconfidence, that is what ruins some teams.”
The Eagles have been a staple of the competition since the teams inauguration in 2019. Winning back to back premierships in 2022-23.
“Since 2019 we have won two. We won two in a row in 2022 and 2023 which was pretty impressive.
“Going back to 2021, we got a coach in Brent Fraser. He set a different standard, just bought a bit more professionalism around the club. He attracted players as well, which handy, that sort of set us up then for 2022 and Fras left at the end of 2022 and we were able to snatch another one in the end of 2023.
“We were lucky to have the week off last week. Eastlake forfeited, so it gave the guys a bit of a rest, which I think they needed. There are a few of our onballers that have been running out games quite well, so it was a blessing in disguise to have a bit of a spell.
“We only found out on Friday afternoon that they were going to forfeit. You just have to roll with the punches. They just didn’t have the players, and we have been in that position before, so it was completely understandable. We’ve been in a position where we’ve had a heap of injuries and whatnot and had to do the same thing, so we completely understood that.”
Due to Eastlake forfeiting, the unveiling of the Tony Graham Memorial Scoreboard was postponed until the 31st of May, when the Eagles host Molongolo.
“Molongolo seem to be travelling along okay, just looking at the results and the ladders, etc. It’s one of the ones that I have circled, and the Woden game as well,” Andy said.
First bounce commences at 12:00 pm Saturday in Cooma.
-Tully Potts
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