By Tara Murray
The Calder Cannons were able to hold off the Oakleigh Chargers in the opening round of the Coates Talent League boys competition on Sunday.
The Cannons led at each of the three breaks with the margin 11 points at the final change, with the game either side’s for the taking.
Despite losing the final quarter, the Cannons did enough to win, 12.9 (81)-11.10 (76).
Cannons coach Sam Willatt told the club’s social media, it was good to get out there and play a proper game.
“I thought our first half was excellent,” he said. “Really dominated the stoppage and clearance which we put some work into this week, which was good.
“We just managed to hold on in the end, but really positive overall.”
Hussien El achkar kicked four goals for the Cannons, while Cooper Duff-Tytler and Adam Sweid kicked two goals each.
Willatt said Duff-Tytler was really strong in the first half, while Sweid had a good impact in his first game after missing all of last year with an ACL injury.
Cooper Herbert and Jett Laidler were others that impressed Willatt.
In other matches, the Northern Knights lost a thriller to the Eastern Ranges on Sunday.
The Knights trailed all day before coming home strong with seven scoring shots in the final quarter.
They fell just short though, with the Ranges winning 8.9 (57)-7.12 (54).
It was all single goal kickers for the Knights.
Roman Moxon, Seb Murphy and Tyson Gresham were named their best.
It was a tough first outing for the Western Jets against the Sandringham Dragons.
The Dragons kicked the only five goals of the first quarter to set the tone of the match and it was a gap that would prove too much.
While there wasn’t much between the sides after quarter time, the Dragons had done the hard work to come away with a 12.17 (87)-6.6 (42) win.
Charlie Mackenzie-George was the only multiple goal kicker for the Jets, kicking two goals.
Jacob Marron, Macauli Buck and Oskar Ainsworth were named the Jets best.
The girls Coates Talent League season gets underway this weekend.
