Former St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary has helped lift Eaglehawk from outside the Top Five last season to the unbeaten ladder leader after five rounds in Bendigo footy.
Along with brother Kallen who switched from rival club Strathfieldsaye over summer the Gearys have been consistent ball-winners and goalkickers. In round four, against a struggling Castlemaine admittedly, the Gearys nailed three goals each as the Hawks posted a massive 30-goal total.
Jarryn alternates between midfield and deep in attack while Kallen works as a rebounding half-back.
The Hawks have beaten three fellow Top Five contenders South Bendigo, Gisborne and Strath Storm in the opening five rounds with the Geary brothers key to the club’s revival this year after finishing a miserable seventh in 2022 with a 9 win-9 loss record.
The eldest brother, Shannon, still plays for Strathfieldsaye Storm. He turns 36 in mid-winter and over summer stepped down from his role of a couple of seasons: senior assistant coach. Shannon and Kallen were both key players in the string of Storm grand final successes in 2015-17-19 –plus runners-up in 2018 and 2022 – and Bendigo footy followers from various clubs were waiting to see how the clash of the brothers eventuated.
What promised to be a fascinating match-up last Saturday when the Storm and the Hawks clashed at Strathfieldsaye’s Tannery Lane home ground turned out a bit of a fizzer. Kallen Geary sat out the majority of the match with a tight quad and although Shannon was named in the Storm’s best three his club turned in its lowest score since joining the Bendigo Football and Netball League in 2009.
Strathfieldsaye managed just 2.9 (21) to the Two Blues 14.15 (99).
Jarryn Geary wasn’t as prominent as he’d been in earlier Hawk wins so fans will have to look forward to the round 14 return clash at Eaglehawk’s Canterbury Park on 29 July to see the trio in action again.
Coach Travis Matheson said Kallen Geary went into the match with “a bit of a tight quad” and added he was weighing up whether to play on Saturday or not. “In hindsight, maybe we could have given him a complete rest,” the coach added. “His quad tightened up on him and after we got ourselves into the position as we did early in the game (with a big lead) Kallen made the call to give it a rest.
“With the league’s general bye next week I can’t see him missing too much footy with it,” Matheson said.
The Storm faces a big challenge to match its 2022 record when it made the grand final as it sits in sixth spot and outside the Top Five on the BFNL ladder with a 2 win-3 loss record.
But there’s still 13 rounds to go before the finals kick off in early September so maybe coach Darryl Wilson, Shannon Geary and their players can re-group.
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