Scoop Reviews Good Friday
The Cobras impressed winning all four quarters on their way to a 51-point win over the Kangaroos at Eastern Oval, their first success at the venue in eight years.
East Point
def. by
Bacchus Marsh
The nature of the win was arguably the most pleasing for coach Dennis Armfield in his 36th game in charge, now into a third season.
The Cobras’ willingness to run, support and share the footy gave every indication of the testing material moving forward.
While there were questions raised around where East Point were at given 11 absentees from their first semi-final side of 2025, the takeaway was more about the improvement of the Cobras.
The six newcomers have added considerable depth quality and versatility to Armfield’s armoury.
Defender Zach Vesty and small forward Billy Griffiths (four goals) impressed first up joining future star Josh Huxtable (three goals) among vote contention.
The Cobras finished with an even spread of nine goal kickers after posting their highest half time score (10.5) under Armfield.
Kangaroos’ forward Jack Jeffrey (five goals) fought out the battle to the very end despite growing separation on the scoreboard.
Youngster Fraser Molan impressed with his composure and decision making under pressure while crucial trio Mickitja Rotumah-Onus, Joe Dodd and Jacob Brown (two goals) will be better for the run.
What did we learn?
The Cobras exciting, free running brand displayed on Good Friday shifts the weight of expectation on proven match winner Jake Owen (three goals) for the better.
East Point’s ‘reset of sorts’ was confirmed, albeit a small sample size.
STAT STARS
Josh Huxtable (Bacchus Marsh) – 32 disposals, 9 marks, 6 clearances
Luke Goetz (Bacchus Marsh) – 62 hit outs, 18 disposals, 5 tackles
Mickitja Rotumah-Onus (East Point) – 27 disposals, 16 contested possessions, 13 clearances
COACHES’ VERDICT
Joe Carmody (East Point)
Overall, free flowing game. Well done to Dennis and his boys as their pressure and work rate was excellent. Bacchus Marsh leg speed and ball movement from the back half split us open and created a lot of easy goals. We take some positives out of the experience considering the lack of experience within the team. Ball movement and contest was okay at times. Transition into defence needs a lot of work. The more games we can get in to the players the quicker the development.
Dennis Armfield (Bacchus Marsh)
Overall, really proud of the group today. Having not won at East point since 2018, we knew they were going to bring the heat and be up for a fight. And to stay playing our way for four quarters was a huge positive. All players had their moments and raised to the occasion. Happy to see the buy in filtering through our whole group, with our reserves having a good win too and our 18s being very competitive.
