With the Panthers needing a seven-goal victory to leapfrog the Roosters into the final five an exciting contest was expected, however the home side led from start to finish in the 15.8 (98) to 7.10 (52) win.
Chris Belbasis held Eltham forward Paul Currie goalless in an inspired performance, and was ably assisted by small forward Adrian Natoli who slotted four goals, while Brendan Nannery, Simon Close (three goals), and Matthew Vasilevski played major roles in the victory.
For Eltham, mid-season recruit Steven Foster gave his midfielders first use from the ruck, while youngster Billy Glasgow played well across halfback. David Folino was the only shining light in the forward line and finished the game with three goals.
After playing for outright top spot against Bundoora in Round 8, Eltham won only two of its last 11 matches and eventually missed the finals by two wins.
Starting four points, and 5.62% in front of the visitors on the ladder, the Roosters came out of the changing rooms in a throwback guernsey that paid tribute to Reservoir-Lakeside, and in particular, the 1977 Premiership team.
The old Lakies players would have liked what they saw early in the first quarter when the Roosters bounded out to an early lead.
Kicking against a strong wind the Panthers were struggling with their disposal and Close capitalised when he marked an errant kick in following a behind. He used the wind to his advantage and kicked the opening goal from 45m.
The Roosters were able to get the centre clearance from the ensuing centre bounce where Natoli was able to gather and run into an open goal.
With West Preston-Lakeside dominating field position and possession, Close was able to gather on the half forward flank and kick to the hot spot where McKenzie flew in to give his nomination for mark of the day. His goal saw the margin extend to 20 points just seven minutes into the match.
Recalled forward Mark Keenan was able to respond from the next centre clearance after he was awarded a free after being held in the marking contest, however this was quickly replied after Braydn Taglieri dropped a mark whilst running with the flight of the ball. Glenn Robertson swooped in and ran into the open goal to extend the lead once again.
Natoli was running amok in the forward 50m with no one quick enough to go with him and he was again able to find space and mark uncontested near the 50m arc. He went back and calmly kicked his second as the margin blew out to 26 points nearing quarter-time.
Jackson Weatherald then stepped up for Eltham just before the siren. First he was able to shark the crumbs off Keenan’s hands and snap truly from 30m on his non-preferred right boot, before enticing the umpires to give him a free kick after Belbasis had pushed him to the ground. Weatherald converted and gave his side hope with the margin just 15 points at the first break.
The Panthers needed a big second quarter to give themselves any hope of playing finals football, however they got off to the worst possible start when Billy Morrison handballed to Natoli for his third just minutes after the restart.
Folino was able to grab his first for the visitors when his kick from 60m travelled over the formed pack and bounced through for a goal.
Unfortunately, the Panthers then booted four behinds in a row as they spent 10 minutes bombarding the goals before McKenzie was able to dribble through a goal from 10m for the Roosters against the run of play.
Ricky Jessop slotted one through after Tom Richardson set him clear with a nice handball, but the Roosters were with the 12-point ascendency at half-time which as far as Eltham coach Brett Weatherald was concerned, was effectively a 54-point deficit.
Morrison’s size was starting to get to the undermanned Eltham defence, and he was able to outmuscle Sean Wilson to get the first goal of the second half, before Billy Micevski was able snatch a goal from nothing, after he toe-poked through a pack a minute later.
Folino hadn’t given up hope and he matched those two goals with two of his own spread out across eight minutes to reduce the margin to 14 points, however four goals in time-on via Natoli, Close, Andrew Luzza and Micevski saw the margin stretch out to 37 points with the game all but over.
Close kicked his third goal early in the final term in an exact replica of his first goal of the day, before Morrison was able to grab his second after taking another strong overhead mark.
After the first five minutes there were no more goals as both teams went about icing the clock. Eltham had little to play for, and the Roosters had bigger things on their minds.
Final score: West Preston-Lakeside 15.8 (98) def Eltham 7.10 (52)
