AT GROUND LEVEL - Marc Turri EDFL General Manager

HILLSIDE WIN IN TARRANT'S DEBUT AND JACANA GET LONG AWAITED VICTORYHILLSIDE remains undefeated and atop theEssendon District Football League division 2 ladderafter coming from behind to beat Keilor Park by 32points on Saturday.The Sharks, bolstered by the inclusion of formerCollingwood spearhead Chris Tarrant, struggled earlyin front of a large home crowd. Keilor Park led by 10at quarter time and 20 at the half.The Devils were dead-eye dicks all afternoon, kickingonly three behinds. Hillside was hampered by injuryand spent most of the second half with a limitedbench.Leading goalkicker Fabio Dilizia fractured hiscollarbone midfielder Sam Sarkis did his groin. Bothcould miss a month of action.The turnaround came in the second half, which hadHillside regain its best form, booting 11 goals tothree. However, it was Aisake O'hAilpin who led theway with four goals. Tarrant had a goalless afternoon.Hillside president Scott Absolum said the playersmay have been sucked in by the occasion early."There was a lot of hype around Tarrant and a bigcrowd and in that first half we played a brand of footywe haven't played all year," he said."But after half-time we settled down and came goodin the second half. Tarrant was good. He crashedthrough packs and did his job."Absolum said the club's depth would be tested withup to eight players on the sidelines. "But we playeda 15-year-old in Jackson Volpato today and he wasvery good."Taylors Lakes lost by 42 to Glenroy in division 1while Keilor went down by 46 points to Aberfeldie inpremier division.Jacana posted its first win in 665 days as it defeatednew comers to the EDFL in East Sunbury by 103points.It has been a remarkable turnaround for Jacanaunder new coach Matthew Sacco and President Rick*** as they turned themselves around from beingeasy beats in the competition where they did not wina game in season 2012 to being a competitive forcethis season in the Division 2 competition.There biggest losing margin this season has onlybeen 107 points, whereas years gone by they wouldconcede 30 goals plus with ease.Their last win came in Round 12 of 2011 againstRoxburgh Park, 26 games ago with some greatcelebrations as the final siren sounded aroundJacana Reserve on Saturday afternoon.Photos Courtesy of Jag Imaging3332 The Footballer – The Essendon District Football League Record www.essendondfl.com.au The Footballer – The Essendon District Football League Record www.essendondfl.com.au 33