THE impact of Terang Mortlake’s loss to North Warrnambool Eagles could be far-reaching with co-captain Damian O’Connor to face the independent tribunal on Wednesday.
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The veteran midfielder received a red card during the second quarter for allegedly striking Eagles tagger Hank Schlaghecke in the fiery season-opener at Bushfield Recreation Reserve..
The incident sparked a melee and swung the momentum the Eagles’ way, with the hosts restricting the Bloods to two behinds after half-time on their way to a 10.12 (72) to 5.4 (34) win.
North Warrnambool Eagles kicked the first four goals of the match in quick succession before rain and wind set in and played havoc.
Boom recruit Dylan Parish used his first kick at Hampden league level to boot the first of his three goals and give the Eagles the perfect start.
Teenage debutant Ben Fleming, who also finished with three majors, kicked the Eagles’ second before Adam Wines and Tom Batten, floating down from defence, put the Bloods further on the back foot.
Terang Mortlake responded, slotting the final two goals of the first term and only three of the second quarter — courtesy of a Jake Meade purple patch — to be three points up at the main break.
But North Warrnambool Eagles made the most of O’Connor’s exile, slotting six unanswered goals in the second half.
New Eagles co-coach Graeme Twaddle said Schlaghecke was sent to hospital as a precautionary measure after he was helped from the ground following the second-term incident.
“He came off the ground and was feeling OK and then I think there was a little bit of delayed concussion,” he said.
Twaddle said the Woodford premiership cricketer was tasked with being the Eagles’ main tagger this season.
“His teammates were really impressed with the way he went about it because in recent years we haven’t had a run-with player, so to have Hank step up into that role been super,” he said.
Twaddle said the Eagles showed maturity to steady after the Bloods fought back.
“We jumped out of the box really well with the dry conditions and once the rain came we played the same style of football,” he said.
“But once we started to adapt and start moving the ball forward and getting numbers around it, we played pleasing football in difficult conditions.
“We don’t want to lose games here at home and the boys had a big pre-season and we knew they’d have plenty of run in the last quarter, so they finished the game off really well.”
Terang Mortlake coach Matthew Irving lamented the Bloods’ slow start, saying the Eagles set the tone early.
“The first four minutes they kicked four goals and then the rain came down and we had to work pretty hard in the second quarter to get back level pegging,” he said.
“We didn’t have the capacity to get back into the game in that second half, they were all over us.
“We were that one man down for 15 (minutes when O’Connor went off) but that sort of took its toll in the last quarter as well.”
Irving, who praised Stephen Staunton’s efforts in the ruck, said Terang Mortlake lost Joe Arundell to a lower leg injury.