Football
21 April, 2026
Eagles down to Warriors after tight tussle
The Eagles 12.3 (75) went down to the Warriors 14.15 (99) in round two of the WFNL.
It was a tight tussle in the opening quarter, with just a couple of points between the sides at the break; the Eagles 4.1 (25) to the Warriors 4.3 (27).
Warrack gained the lead in quarter two, to be up 7.2 (44) to 6.5 (41) at the big break.
They held a 62 to 59 lead heading into the final quarter, but it was the Stawell team that finished more strongly, booting 6.4 to the opposition's 2.1 to claim the win by 24 points.
Co-coach of the Warriors, James Sullivan, said after the 14.15 (99) to 12.3 (75) win, it was pleasing they had 28 scoring shots last round, and backed it up with 29 this week.
"We are definitely doing a lot right, but they (the Eagles) hung in there," admitted Sullivan.
He was full of praise for the Eagles side, adding they were always going to come out strong after their loss last week.
"They've definitely got a few players of quality," said Sullivan.
But the Warriors held their nerve, and the co-coach said it was their leaders who really stood up.
"You focus on the opposition a bit, but at the end of the day, you gotta keep doing what you work on and what you do right," Sullivan said.
"I think we went away from that a bit in the first quarter and a half, but there were definitely bits through the quarter we weren't happy with, and then bits in the quarter we were happy with.
"I think consistency is going to be the theme for the next round."
Sullivan acknowledged the consistent and measured performance of their backline, admitting it included a few travellers who don't get to train with the group as much as they could and would like to.
"There's definitely some leaders down there and some guys who have played a lot of footy," he said.
"We certainly work on it, and it is a big instruction for what we want to do and how we want to move the footy.
"We are really happy with their effort, especially against their forward line; there are some big boys down there.”
But the forward line also really stood up, especially considering the side hasn't had any goal posts at Central Park to practice with this season.
"We haven't really been able to work on our goal kicking as much as we would like," said Sullivan.
"But they should be up this week, so we'll be able to correct that and get it right."
There were seven goal scorers for Stawell on Saturday, and Sullivan said he’s happier when the focus isn't just on one or two players to score.
"Having Paul and Cody down there and then Michael Romero got on the end of a couple in that last quarter," he said.
"We don't want to be a full club that's focused too solely on one or two players, we want to share the load a bit, but I was really happy with Paulie's (Summers) second term, a few things ddn't go his way in the first half, and he really stuck to it and stepped up in the big moments."
The win came with Tom Eckel not taking the field for the final half after being injured, but for Sullivan, it was pleasing that other players stepped up to fill the void.
"I was really pleased with that and probably the two skippers leading from the front," said Sullivan.
"The boys are trained in different positions, and that just shows when someone does go down, you do have that flexibility."
Coach of the Eagles, Kyle George, had plenty to be positive about depsite the loss, saying their pressure was right up, his side won a lot of contested footy and their match-ups worked.
But he gave credit to Stawell, adding they were able to keep going, and the fact they had more depth in their team was what got the better of the Eagles eventually.
But for the coach, it was a better performance from the side than their first outing, when they were defeated by Horsham Saints by more than 40 points.
"The performance on Saturday was much better," George said.
"We played the way that was expected, so there are a lot of positives to take from that.
"We moved on from the game against the Saints pretty quickly."
For the home side at Anzac Park on Saturday, Ben Hanna and Sam Hanna were brilliant, while Connor McFayden and John Jorgensen each found the big sticks four times for Warrack.
Josh Fowkes and Sunny Braizer led the way for Stawell, with the consistent Paul Summers their highest goal scorer, with four majors.