Ruckman hailed a hero for handing team first win

WHO would have thought kicking a behind could make you a hero?

Young St Albans ruckman Matt McKenzie was the toast of St Albans on Saturday night after his minor score broke the deadlock against North Shore and handed his side its first win of the season.

McKenzie’s point from 50m gave the Supersaints a one-point lead — 9.9 (63) to 9.8 (62) — which they desperately defended for the last three minutes at The Gordon TAFE Oval. The result also lifts the Supersaints off the bottom of the ladder.

“If anything, (the win) is a reward for the boys,” cocoach Jarrod Best said.

“We had a bit of a low point probably four weeks ago when Leopold took us to the cleaners and beat us by 30 goals, but the boys really stuck together. They could have gone one way or the other. But we really think the wheel turned in the last two weeks, firstly against Colac (in Round 8), and then the boys got that win today.

“It was great to get that first win off the back and hopefully gather momentum for the second half of the season.”

McKenzie’s matchwinning effort continued a hot month of form, capping another strong performance.

Many Supersaints players stood out, including Jack Beardsell, whose clean skills were important at both ends of the ground but probably most damaging hitting up targets in attack.

Matt Sondergeld, Harley Cobb, Will Lord, Harrison Howarth, Dylon Johnston and Sam Wolfenden were also heavily involved in the action. With little separating the sides at each break, Best said the game unfolded to plan.

“We wanted to get into an arm-wrestle,” he said.

“There’s been too many times this year where we’ve come in at quarter time and been down, we didn’t want to be easy to score against … we just wanted to keep in the game as long as we could.”

Jackson Attwood was restricted with a bad corkie and failed to finish the game.