Hoppers Crossing is hitting its straps in Western Region Football League division 1.
The Warriors put their sketchy form behind them with a 43-point upset win over ladder leader Spotswood at McLean Reserve on Saturday.
It was a welcome return to form for the Warriors, who went into the game on a two-game losing skid and in danger of slipping out of the top five.
Warriors coach Steve Kretiuk was delighted his charges put their inconsistent habits behind them.
“All in all, we played a good four quarters of footy, probably for the first time this year,” he said.
Hoppers Crossing was in total control from the outset.
The fast-starting Warriors led by 14 points at quarter-time and stretched that out to a nigh on unassailable 38-point gap by the half.
There was plenty of junk time in the second half as the Warriors withstood the Woodsmen’s fleeting comeback attempts.
“When they were starting to get some sort of momentum back in the game, we were pretty good at stemming their flow and holding on to the game,” Kretiuk said.
“To our boys’ credit, they played a consistent brand of footy.”
Hoppers Crossing was stout defensively, restricting the usually free-scoring Spotswood to 43 points.
The Woodsmen had averaged a mammoth 156 points a game in the previous three rounds.
Corey Muscat led the way defensively for the Warriors – he was given the duty of marking Spotswood danger man Nayef Hamad.
“He was running through the midfield and was supposed to play on [Dylan] Callard,” Kretiuk said.
“Then Nayef got out of the loop and had a really dominant six or seven minutes in the first quarter, and would’ve had 10 touches in the first half of that quarter.
“So we put Corey on him and, to his credit, he took him out of the game.”
Mitch Palma produced his best game for Hoppers Crossing.
Palma is one of the Warriors’ hardest working players in the midfield, regularly blowing up the GPS.
“We put a GPS on some of the players and his numbers are through the roof compared with some of the other players,” Kretiuk said.
“I don’t think anyone comes anywhere near what he runs in a game of footy.
“His efforts aren’t 30 to 40 metres, they’re 100-metre efforts.”
Kretiuk was thrilled with the performances of new recruits Daniel Nielsen and Jordan Staley.
Nielsen close-checked on in-form Woodsmen forward Lachlan Fairley, while Staley presented well in attack, taking a number of contested marks and finishing the match with three goals.
Wayde Skipper, Matthew Ryan, Reece Miles and Noah Walker also had big impacts.
Jordan Mead was the Warriors’ most dangerous around goal with four majors, while Braden Ferrari kicked three.
Hoppers Crossing maintained its hold of fourth spot ahead of a mouth-watering clash with return-to-form Albion at Hogans Road Reserve on Saturday.
