A great win that was well and truly set up in the early stages with great pressure applied all over the ground.

It just took over 35 second to get on the board with the ball transferred out of the centre and down to “Ratta” who got his first with a great snap from the clubroom side pocket.

Shortly after Jye Lorey received a free kick and was able to score his first goal in senior football. The Panthers were applying great pressure and were causing Northcote Park to constantly turn the ball over. Every time they tried to move the ball into their forward line it was quickly repelled by our defence, who were working well together.

While on the forward line James Kroussoratis was running his opponents ragged and was quickly able to score a further two goals for the quarter. It wasn’t until late in the quarter that the cougars were able to score their only goal for the term.

Not long into the second term and we were able to score another major, but Northcote Park were able to score two of their own to reduce the margin to 14 points. Two more goals to Kroussoratis before a great goal from Lachie Richardson late in the quarter had us leading by 33 points at the main break.

With a couple of players having to sit out the early stages of the third quarter after send offs just prior to half time. The side was down on rotations, during which, Northcote Park were able to score three consecutive goals to reduce the margin to just 15 points midway through the third.  The panthers were then able to regain a comfortable margin with goals to Bradyn Taglieri and Anton Woods.

A three goal to one last quarter and the Panthers were home and in the top 5 for the first time since 2013 with a comfortable 43 point win in the end.

A full replay of the game is now available in our Video Gallery

 Eltham 4.2-26 8.7-55 10.10-70 13.16-94
Northcote Park 1.0-6 3.4-22 6.7-43 7.9-51
Goal Kickers: J. Kroussoratis 6, J. Merkel 2, L. Richardson , J. Lorey , A. Brovedani , B. Taglieri , A. Woods
Best Players: , J. Kroussoratis , A. Brovedani , C. Caulfield , E. Gilbert , Bradyn Taglieri , A. Woods

Reserves

The Reserves after a fairly tight tussle early were able to break clear and and pretty well dominate from thereon and finished with a great eight goal last quarter.
 Eltham 2.2-14 6.8-44 10.12-72 18.15-123
Northcote Park 0.3-3 1.4-10 4.4-28 6.5-41
Goal Kickers: C. McCabe 4, T. Snell 3, H. Hunt 2, B. Lorey 2, C. Dell 2, R. Murphy , J. Sevior , S. Zito , M. Avramov , K. Keane
Best Players: , J. Marchbank , C. McCabe , M. Avramov , Bailey Taglieri , K. Keane , J. Sevior

Under 19s

The Under 19s after a tight affair to half time, were able to run the game out better than Northcote Park in the second half
 Eltham 1.3-9 2.6-18 4.9-33 9.12-66
Northcote Park 0.2-2 2.3-15 3.6-24 5.10-40
Goal Kickers: L. Turnbull 4, K. O’Sullivan 2, N. Arney 2, P. Turnbull
Best Players: , M. Cantwell , P. Turnbull , L. Turnbull , K. O’Sullivan , N. Arney , L. Gorst