GVL | Gallery | Magpie forward takes flight in Euroa’s big win

By Aydin Payne

Jun 26, 2022

Euroa key-forward Erish Uthayakumar booted seven majors to spearhead his side to a whopping 170-point win over a depleted Tatura on Saturday.

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On a heavy track at Memorial Oval, the Magpies took flight to pencil in their ninth win of the Goulburn Valley League campaign.

Uthayakumar impressed with his clean hands and strong marks as he took advantage of class deliveries from Euroa’s talented onballers.

Andrew Bell and Jacob Gleeson were influential through the midfield, along with versatile onballer Ben Giobbi (two goals) and hard-nut Jack Hellier.

Turn and go: Euroa’s Andrew Bell finds some open space. Photo by Aydin Payne

Gun small-forward Jett Trotter booted four majors, while young gun Ben Bath (three) and tall forward Tristan Davies (three) both hit the scoreboard in the 27.15 (177) to 1.1 (7) win.

Tatura, already impacted by injuries, was forced to make half-a-dozen changes ahead of the round 11 clash — which consisted of three in the hours before the match.

Unfortunately, the Dogs suffered another injury, with senior debutant Bailey Archer suffering a hamstring strain.

Eyes up: Tatura’s Tom Sullivan gathers the ball. Photo by Aydin Payne

Tom Sullivan and Chris Ryan flew the flag for the visitors, while defenders Michael Archer and Che Walls weathered the Euroa onslaught.

Euroa coach Scott Rowan was pleased his charges were able to get the game on their terms, while he also threw his support behind the Bulldogs.

“It was nice that the weather held off a bit and it was great to see the boys play four strong quarters of footy,” Rowan said.

“The pressure around the contest was still there until the final siren and that was good to see.

“And well done to Tatura for fielding all four footy sides as well. They are obviously struggling with numbers at the moment, but it was great that they could get the four sides out there.”

Under pressure: Euroa’s Jayden Gleeson tries to shake Tatura’s Harry Murdoch. Photo by Aydin Payne

Rowan went on to praise the performances of his side’s standout players.

“It was great to see Erish get some reward and get on the end of a few,” he said.

“The way we structure we try to get a share of goal-kickers, Jett (Trotter) was able to kick four as well, but it was his (Erish) day.

“Belly has been really good since returning from Singapore and he’s really held down his spot in the middle and opened it up for some of the others to go forward.

“And Jacob’s year keeps getting better and better.”