THE Bendigo Gold recorded a six-goal victory over Footscray in their practice match at Epsom-Huntly Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Gold prevailed 63 to 4.2 (26) - Gold coach Aussie Jones wasn't sure if his side kicked 9.9 or 8.15 - against a Footscray side that had players backing up from an intra-club match on Thursday night.
"It was a good day for us today," Jones said on Saturday.
"We were probably three or four players away from our best team and Footscray had a fairly young side.
"All Footscray's top-end VFL players like Brent Prismall, Lukas Markovic, Nick Lower and Jordan Russell all played and all had a bit of an influence, but we probably had a better spread across the ground."
While it was only a practice match, Saturday was the first time the Gold has beaten a VFL opponent since going stand-alone last year.
"The good thing from the players is they knew the scoreboard went our way, but there was no fanfare or excitement about it," Jones said.
"Those guys who were with us last year were craving a win, but all they were talking about after the game was the way we went about it. Our ball-use, ability to run and depth is just a lot stronger this year and we had a lot more contributors."
Among those to impress for the Gold were Peel Thunder recruit Devin McFarlane, Jarrod Bacon, who kicked three goals, Matt Farrelly, Sam Heavyside, Jack Sheahan and Tyrone Downie.
"It was just good for our club to have a win, and you hear AFL coaches a lot these days talk about winning form is good form," Jones said.
"It certainly beats losing and we've got standards within our club to continue that improvement and be competitive and today was a massive tick all-round."
The Gold takes on Collingwood at Victoria Park at 1pm this Saturday in their next practice match.
