12-05-2025
EFNL 2025: Finn Devine, Jafar Ocaa fire Beaconsfield to victory over Montrose
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Beaconsfield coach Mick Fogarty declared it a mature performance from his emerging team, as it claimed yet another scalp on Saturday.
The Eagles, fresh off handing Boronia its first loss in a year, edged Montrose 12.13 (85) to 10.7 (67) to notch their third win from four starts in Eastern's Division 1.
Best afield was teenager Finn Devine, who stood former Gold Coast Sun and current VFL spearhead Brodie McLaughlin – and kept the 2024 Williamstown leading goalkicker to just one major.
'He's (Devine) only a 10 to 12-game player as a 19-year-old kid, and just his one-on-one stuff was terrific … the lessons that Finn will take from that, body positioning and so forth, we were really happy with his performance on a gun player,' Fogarty said.
Meanwhile, Jafar Ocaa booted a bag of six goals.
'Jaf's got that in him – we all know the excitement and x-factor he can bring … he's worked pretty hard over the last few weeks and he was on the end of a lot of good balls from our mids and defensive unit,' Fogarty said.
'He's just an extension of the arm, finishing the work that's done up the ground. We certainly needed someone up there to kick some goals for us.'
Ali Zijai, Brandon White, Ethan Harris and Charlie Muley were also among the best, while Jake Bowd fired off two goals.
Just five points separated the teams at the main break after Montrose slammed on six second-quarter majors, before the Eagles skipped 16 points ahead by the final change.
The result consigned the visitors to a 1-3 record.
'To Montrose's credit, they lifted their pressure around the contest, got outside spread and tested us really well (after quarter time),' Fogarty said.
'I thought our defence held up strongly under some real pressure.
'A couple of years ago or even last year, we might've lost that game, but the maturity of the young guys coming through that are now starting to play 30, 40, 50 games held us in really good stead on the weekend.
'Plus, the experience of (Jake) Bowd, (Jake) Aarts and (Damien) Johnston settling the side down a bit … it was about handling the pressure.'
Beaconsfield is away to Mooroolbark in Round 6.
