GVL ǀ Saints travel to Eagles nest for Anzac round ‘grudge match’

By James Kleeman

Apr 21, 2022

Rock: Eagles defender Brett Mahoney has enjoyed a strong start to his season. Photo by Zac Standish

A tantalising match of football will open this weekend’s Goulburn Valley League Anzac round, with Mansfield hosting Benalla.

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Thousands descended on Mansfield Recreation Reserve last weekend to witness what was a thrilling come-from-behind win against Seymour, the Eagles getting over the line after a flurry of late goals.

Coach Chad Owens said despite a 2-0 record, his side was still on the hunt for good, consistent footy.

“We’ve had a good start to the season, won both of our first two matches, which is what we set out to do,” he said.

“I don’t think we’ve played great footy yet, we’ve played well in patches but we’re still looking for that consistency across four quarters.”

After going down to the Saints on both occasions last season, Owens said the Eagles would be eager to make amends on Saturday.

“It’s always a bit of a grudge match, obviously they got over us both times last season and there’s always been a bit of rivalry between the two towns,” he said.

Benalla suffered an agonising one-point defeat at the hands of Tatura on Good Friday; the Saints getting run over in the final quarter after four unanswered Bulldogs goals.

The side looked far different to the one that went down heavily to Seymour in round one, and Owens said his boys had been reminded of expectations ahead of the clash with their old foe.

“They’ve obviously regrouped from Seymour and only just got done by Tatura; if you look at their list they’ve got a lot of good players capable of playing some real good footy,” he said.