Tara Murray
After a lean 2023, Whittlesea didn’t have to wait long to sing the song in the Northern Football League division 2 2024 season.
After being relegated in the off season, the Eagles found themselves back in division 2 for 2024, under new coach Garry Ramsay.
On Saturday, the Eagles kicked off their season against Laurimar, which was promoted after winning the division 3 title last season.
The Eagles got off to a strong start and were able to build on that, coming away with a 15.18 (108)-5.10 (40) win.
Ramsay said there was plenty of excitement at the ground following the win.
“The 19s, who we didn’t have last year, had a win in their first game back and the reserves got a win and the seniors did,” he said.
“It was an exciting day for the club. A lot of committee people and supporters have done a lot of hard work.
“They’ve had some lean times. There were a lot of smiling faces as we sang the theme song.”
Ramsay said their forward pressure early on was what set the match up, as they had 11 scoring shots to four in the first quarter.
He said they knew it was going to be a tough challenge all day.
“Laurimar came with a lot of passion and they came out very hard,” he said. “We stood up and played some good physical football and it was a good game to watch.
“We didn’t make too many turnovers, so we were able to limit their scoring opportunities.
“There’s still room for improvement.”
Jaron Murphy kicked four goals for the Eagles with Taidhg Bland and Blake Watson kicking three goals each.
Ramsay said Watson, Bland and Matt Dornauf were three of their standouts.
For the Power, it was all single goalkickers. Aidan Clarke, Ethan Jones and Jacob Bateman were named their best.
Ramsay said to get a win first up was good for the playing group having not won a game last season in division 1,
“It’s nice to get the winning feeling, hopefully it becomes a habit,” he said. “There’s still areas of improvement to work on, but there are some good signs.”
Ramsay said he was loving being at the Eagles with plenty of buy in from the playing group and the club as a whole.
The Eagles this week face St Mary’s at St Mary’s. Ramsay said it would be a good challenge against a side that played finals last season,
In other matches, South Morang had a big win against Lower Plenty, winning 25.21 (171)-9.12 (66).
Joshua D’Intinosante kicked six goals.
Under lights, Thomastown proved too strong for Northcote Park, winning 11.11 (77)-8.8 (56).4
In division 3, Old Paradians started life in the NFL with an 18.14 (122)-5.6 (36) win against Heidelberg West, while Mernda started its season with a 9.16 (70)-9.8 (62) loss to Old Eltham Collegians.
