WYNDHAMVALE Falcons won the first ‘war of postcode 3024’ over Manor Lakes Storm by 53 points in the Western Region Football League division 2 at Wyndhamvale Reserve on Saturday.
It was a victory for the old firm as the established Falcons defended their turf to the hilt against the upstart Storm on a day that a new rivalry was born.
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Falcons forward Nathan Evans told the Weekly his side was eager to give the Storm a real taste of life in the big league.
The Storm had coasted through the opening five rounds without a blemish. But coming face to face with two formidable neighbours in Glenorden and Wyndhamvale in the past three weeks and being on the receiving end of losses that roughly translated to ‘hello and welcome, good luck, but this is our turf’, they can now say they are playing with the big boys.
“We wanted to give them some serious footy because they’ve played a lot of lower sides,” Evans said.
“We knew if we came out hard, they would have a different welcome to top-level footy in division 2.
“And, as we kept saying, there’s only one suburb with the post code 3024 and that’s Wyndhamvale.
“Manor Lakes is only an estate within Wyndhamvale.
“It was good to get the points over our local rivals.”
Wyndhamvale made its intentions felt from the moment the umpire hoisted the ball aloft.
The Falcons regained their attacking mojo to boot seven goals to two in the opening term.
Devan Ellis was a clear best-on- ground for the Falcons with his tireless work on the ball.
Joshua Van Der Munnik was having his praises sung after keeping Storm forward Ty Preist to one goal.
Preist has booted 56 goals in eight games to be the competition’s leading marksman. Captain Jayden Wood and player-coach Luke Dennerley were brilliant with their run off the half-back line.
The Falcons’ lead would stretch to 59 points by half-time.
“The first half was really good; we kept the forward line open and really played the way we wanted to play,” Evans said. “We felt that our want for the football, our hardness over the ball and our run and spread certainly would stretch them and that was the way it was.
“The game really was over at half-time.”
The Falcons lost a bit of their fizz in the second half, seemingly preoccupied with thoughts of their teammate Cameron Barillaro, who went down with a potentially season-ending knee injury in the third term.
“He’s a really well-liked guy, a character around the club and is one of our better players, so it sort of shocked us,” Evans said.
“It took a little bit for us to get refocused.”
In other division 2 games, Braybrook claimed a 26-point win over Caroline Springs on the road at the Town Centre Oval, with Steven Pearce booting four goals.
Glenorden poleaxed Sanctuary Lakes by 135 points at Heathdale Oval, with former AFL forward Kent Kingsley snagging 10 goals on debut.
Parkside led Albanvale a merry dance in a 78-point win at Henry Turner Reserve, with Robert Ford kicking five.
Sunshine Heights had 65 scoring shots in a 199-point annihilation of Laverton Magpies at Ainsworth Reserve.
And West Footscray overcame a sluggish start and a fired-up opponent in North Sunshine to go on and record an 85-point win.
In division 1, Terry Knight kicked seven majors as Hoppers Crossing beat Albion by an even 10 goals at Parsons Reserve.
