By Callum Ludwig
Anzac Day round threw up mixed results for the Lilydale Senior Football Club’s three sides against Mitcham.
The U19s got off to a slow start, entering the first change down 15 to 7. Thye never failed to lead at a quarter break for the rest of the match however, running out 42-point winners 12.7, 79 to Mitcham’s 5.7, 37.
Lachlan ‘Stickers’ Baxter, sporting what teammates thought initially was Thanos on his forearm, was on fire at full-forward kicking 5 goals. He was joined late in the forward linewith 2 goals from Bailey Bateman, who looked a much happier figure in the duo more iconic than Hansel and Gretel.
Zac Carolan rocked up with new white boots and provided return on his Rebel Sport investment to be one of the best on ground alongside Baxter, Daniel ‘Paddy’ Ryan, Adrian Clark, Ashton Dobbin and Rowan Tucker.
Luke ‘Turkey’ Bates put in an enforcing performance in the backline.
The Reserves faced a tough and undefeated Mitcham side and went down 21.12, 138 to 4.3, 27.
Shane “Shano” Richards looked threatening in the 1st quarter as Lilydale tried to take it up to their opponents, earning himself two 1st quarter set shots on goal. Unfortunately, looking threatening was about as far as he got, with both shots failing to register a score.
Oscar Aliotta, Luke Hogg, Jarrod ‘Jazz’ Thompson, John DeVincentis, Jack Leithhead and a toothless Astin Bucci were named in the best, alongside Lachlan Cox who made a long-awaited return from injury setbacks.
The Senior side was disappointed to go down by 11 points 13.10, 88 to 10,17, 77, having led at every break. It was a fiery game, with two yellow cards dished out to Lilydale players for contentious dangerous tackles and multiple free kicks paid against Mitcham for off-the-ball incidents.
Liam ‘Jeffa’ Jeffs, Mitch “DeFran” De Franceschi, Nick ‘Delby’ Del Biondo, Riley ‘Santa’ Clausen, Ryan ‘Dobby’ McNay and Jayden DePace were the best performers on the day.
Macauley Beckwith holds on to his spot as leading goalkicker for the division, kicking 3 on Saturday to lead the race by 1 and Jordan “Jaws” Jaworski added two from the boundary to take his tally to 8.
Other goalkickers were Marc Massarotti with 2 and one apiece from Josh White, Jack Bateman and Isaac Biasuzzo, coined Isaac “Bazinga” in the moment by John Gordon.
Beau Mitchener also made a triumphant return from the broken nose and generally smashed-in face he suffered in Round 1 against Croydon.
The Dales take on local rivals Mooroolbark next week.
