By Star Weekly
Hoppers Crossing fought back from two goals down at three quarter time to overrun St Albans and win the traditional Western Region Football League division 1 Good Friday season opener by 19 points at Kings Park Reserve.
The Warriors piled on five goals to nil with the aid of the breeze in a last quarter blitz to make it a winning start to the new campaign.
Warriors coach Steven Kretiuk was “proud” of the way his side wrenched back the momentum after it appeared as though their sloppy skills in the opening three quarters might have given the Saints the leg-up they needed.
“I haven’t got much hair left but what I did have I pulled out today,” Kretiuk told Star Weekly. “We controlled the game for most of the day but our footy going forward was really poor and they really capitalised on some turnovers.
“I had a crack at the players at three quarter time and they responded.
“In the last quarter, we had 15 inside 50s and nine scoring shots, and the clearances were 12 to three, while they had 10 inside 50s and scored three points.
“With such a young group last year, in the same position, I reckon we would’ve lost that game, so it’s good to see how far we’ve come because St Albans is a very good side and it was always going to be tough.”
The Warriors’ last quarter compared to its first three was like chalk and cheese.
The deeper they got into the game, the better their skills became and the more fluent was their transference of the ball to the forwards.
Their endeavour at the contest was at a high rate throughout – led by tough nut Matthew Smith.
Smith, the club’s 2013 best-and-fairest winner, showed how dearly he was missed by the Warriors last season after spending the year with Werribee Centrals in the GDFL.
Smith worked supremely hard in both an attacking sense and defensively with some brutal tackling.
“I thought he was outstanding today,” Kretiuk said.
Jackson Viola, David Barbieri and Harley Armstrong-Weston were the stand outs in the Warriors defence.
Viola, a Collingwood VFL listed player, dusted himself off after heavy attention from Saints forward Michael Spooner to be one of his side’s best.
“We’re really lucky to have him,” Kretiuk said.
“He’s a great kid, he’s a competitor and he hates getting beaten.
“Hopefully he doesn’t play any more games with us and he’s playing VFL footy because I certainly think Jacko can play at a higher level.”
When the game was up for grabs, the Warriors big men Wayde Skipper and Daniel Riosa rose to the occasion.
Skipper was dominant at the centre square and dangerous as a resting forward with three goals.
Riosa was entrusted to take the ruck duels in the last quarter with a lasting image from the game being his long thumps of the ball out of the ruck duels to immediate have the Saints backtracking.
“Arguably we’ve got the best two ruckmen in the competition,” Kretiuk said. “Our second string ruckman is as good as our first string ruckman.
“In the last quarter, we had no hesitation putting ‘Skip’ at full forward and ‘Rio’ in the ruck, not many teams have the capabilities to do that.”
Jordan Mead produced a scintillating final term.
The former Williamstown and Western Jets player was unleashed into the midfield and had his opponents in a spin with his blistering foot speed and traction to weave in and out of heavy traffic.
“He was a good VFL player and won the best and fairest at the Jets when I was there,” Kretiuk said.
“He has that composure and alertness around the contest not to rush.”
It was a tasty little appetiser served up by Hoppers Crossing first up, but with a limited pre-season and two weeks between games, Kretiuk expects a more polished side for their home opener against Port Melbourne Colts in a fortnight.
“We’re going to get better in two, three or four weeks when we get that match conditioning and awareness,” Kretiuk said. “We only played two practice matches as a team and most players only played one, so these guys are a bit behind where some of the other sides are.
“We did that on purpose, we want to make sure that at the back end of the year, we’ve still got something left in the tank.
“Even though we played well in the finals last year, it was all on heart and determination, so this year we want to be up and running come finals time if we make it.”
Peter Dalinkiewicz, Mitch Bongiovanni and Brad Allen were best for the St Albans.
Spooner was an ever present in attack with four goals, while Anthony Piva was the other Saints multiple goalkicker with two.
2015 Good Friday season opener
Division 1: St Albans 9.8 (62) lt Hoppers Crossing 11.15 (81)
