It was a cold, crisp day for Eaton to host its first match of the year and the new Glen Huon Oval.
The Eaton Boomers and Busselton Magpies had players celebrating milestone games.
Eaton’s Jace Cormack reached 100th match and Busselton’s Sam Shepherd is now the club’s record holder with 254 games under his belt.
Busselton coach Steve Lester said Shepherd had been great for the club and it was fantastic to see him reach the milestone.
“You see the AFL guys rack up some games but it is increasingly more difficult for a local guy to do it,” he said.
The home side started with the breeze which helped Rohan Lilly kick the first goal of the match.
Eaton were fast early and it looked like Busselton might have trouble keeping up. However, they stuck tight and were able to kick the second goal of the game thanks to Bailey Sanford.
Sanford had alot of the ball early and nearly kicked his second but missed an easy opportunity.
Nathan McCosker from Eaton also missed an easy opportunity at goal.
The next goal came from Eaton’s Blake Piggott.
Each goal was a hard fought one but the home side were able to get two in a row with Matt Jas kicking their third.
A free kick from a ruck contest in Busselton’s forward line allowed Reegan Mrsich to kick their second goal.
Michael Russell from Eaton made sure they stayed ahead at quarter by kicking their fourth goal.
Busselton only trailed by eight points at quarter time thanks to a goal on the siren by Ben Daniels.
Both teams came out firing in the second quarter with a long time passing before the first goal was scored.
Eaton kicked their one and only goal for the term from Tyler Patterson.
Busselton’s Jed Kemp and Jackson Arbon really stood up in the midfield which allowed the opposition to kick three goals from Tayte Devenny, Aiden Fraser and Reegan Mrsich.
The Magpies went into the main break feeling good about how they were playing the game and maybe even thought they were in with a chance to take their second victory for the season.
The half time score was 5.3 (33) to 7.3 (45).
As the third quarter played out it became a tale of two halves with the tight contest of the first half no longer existing.
Eaton broke the game apart in the third and were able to keep Busselton scoreless for the term.
In fact, Busselton barely got the ball in their forward line. At the other end of the field, Eaton were having plenty of score opportunities.
There were a few easy misses from the likes of Nathan McCosker and Jace Cormack.
Cormack even had the chance to make up for his first behind with a free kick as a result of being hit after the ball. However he missed that kick as well.
This didn’t seem to bother the home side though, with goals coming from Jay Walton, Joseph Bertola and McCosker.
Busselton were going to have to take full advantage of the breeze in the last quarter if they were in with any chance of winning.
But a win for club legend Shepherd was not meant to be with again the Magpies failing to score a major in the last term.
Busselton’s Chris Puff received a yellow card for a hitting Bertola in a marking contest.
The final score was 12.10 (82) to 7.5 (47).
Busselton still sit ninth on the ladder and are two points ahead of the bottom dwellers in Carey Park.
The Magpies will be travelling again for round 12, this time to face the Harvey Bulls.
After losing to Harvey Brunswick Leschenault, the Bulls sit fifth on the ladder.
For more photos of the game, visit busseltonmail.com.au