Just as it’s wise to not judge a book by its cover, sometimes it’s not best to judge a football team by the scoreboard.
Caroline Springs was beaten by last year’s runner-up, Hoppers Crossing, by 144 points in the Western Region Football League division 1 on Saturday, but still drew praise from both camps for its performance.
The Lakers are in a different phase to Hoppers – promoted last season and still finding their feet in the top flight.
Last year’s second-tier champions were missing a stack of key personnel against Hoppers, including key recruit Doug Thomas, former AFL star Brian Lake, gun forward Mathew Sutton and one of last year’s grand final stand-outs, Jerome Caterino.
That gave a number of the Lakers youngsters a chance to get a feel for division 1 football.
Instead of rolling over and accepting that it might get too hard, Caroline Springs surprised its more fancied opponent.
For two quarters, the Lakers were goal-less, but they restricted the normally big-scoring Hoppers to just four goals. Incredibly, the Lakers won the second term, albeit by four behinds to two.
Taking a quarter from a premiership contender did not equate to four premiership points for the Lakers, but such little victories will eventually start to snowball.
Lakers football manager Marc Raak said that given the Lakers are on a steep learning curve, their first half against Hoppers Crossing was admirable.
“We played a lot of kids today – there were four under 19,” he said. “We were up and about and mixing it till half-time.”
Even Hoppers Crossing coach Steven Kretiuk, a former Western Bulldogs player and five-year coach of the Western Jets, was impressed with the way Caroline Springs went about it.
Kretiuk was none too pleased about going into half-time with a mere 25-point lead, but conceded that Caroline Springs’ dedication to a defensive game plan and stubbornness were a huge reason why it was so close at half-time.
“They were outstanding, I thought, with their pressure around the ball and getting numbers back to support their defenders,” he said.
He paid credit to Lakers coach Scott Korczynski.
“It’s pretty hard coming up a division, but to be in a position where you’re competitive against a decent side, he’s doing a really good job,” he said.
Caroline Springs was unable to sustain its valiant output over four quarters.
The Lakers got leg weary, Hoppers Crossing turned it up a notch and the second half wasn’t pretty. Hoppers piled on 21 goals to two to get the percentage booster they were after.
Caroline Springs will return home on Saturday to face another tough test against Werribee Districts at Town Centre Oval.
Elsewhere in division 1, Sunshine Kangaroos sent a warning to the rest of the competition with a 106-point shellacking of St Albans, with Daniel Castellano booting six goals.
Albion was on the receiving end of a 126-point loss to Spotswood.
James Condos booted five in Deer Park’s comfortable 89-point win over Wyndhamvale, while Altona registered a 59-point win over Werribee Districts.
In division 2, a slow starting Albanvale went down by 51 points to Yarraville Seddon, while Newport Power beat West Footscray by 25 and North Footscray comfortably accounted for Manor Lakes by 66 points.
In division 3, Bradwell Dick kicked eight goals in North Sunshine’s hard-fought 25-point win over Laverton, while Sunshine Heights came from behind at quarter-time to beat Sanctuary Lakes by five goals.
