Victory was a daunting prospect for an understrength Eltham senior team as they faced off at home on a sunny Anzac Day afternoon against a Geelong side that was physically intimidating and supported by a full reserves’ bench. This appeared confirmed as Geelong ran in four early tries to lead 26-0 after just 15 minutes of play.
And then the turnaround.
For the remainder of the first half Eltham was basically encamped in the Geelong half, aided by a resurgent defence and a variety of forced and unforced errors by the visiting side. Unexpectedly, a strong Eltham scrum — with captain Eliah James playing hooker for the first time — proved more than a match for the large Geelong pack. Sustained pressure saw Aiden Smith score close to the posts, with Daniel Gannon adding the conversion, while a sweeping backline move had the tiring legs of Gideon Tauelangi do enough to carry him over out wide. By half-time the score had closed to 26-12.
Eltham started the second half strongly, with Aisea “Wise” Naulago going close before an attacking backline move from a lineout win had Ben Pusa Su’a scoring out wide to give a scoreline of 26-17. Geelong responded with two tries to stretch their lead to 38-17 before a tireless Tolu Luatutu crashed through to score, with Daniel’s conversion taking the score to 38-24.
It was perhaps inevitable that a depleted home side with no bench players would eventually succumb to a Geelong team with a constant stream of fresh replacements. The visitors ran in another five tries in the closing stages to run out winners 69-24.
A gutsy Eltham effort after a slow start, with Eliah James named man of the match for the home side. One standout highlight — late in the game an injured Dimitri Vourvahakis standing his ground and knocking over a rampaging Geelong opponent twice his size.
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