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One place and one point separates two sides who were playing VPL2 football twelve months ago.
Eltham head to Elcho Park in Lara to face a North Geelong Warriors outfit that, like the Redbacks, won promotion in 2025. The Warriors took the VPL2 championship. The Redbacks clinched automatic promotion with a 3-0 win over Brunswick Juventus. Both arrived in VPL1 with something to prove, and both have backed it up through six rounds of senior football at this level.
The Redbacks sit third on 13 points after Friday night’s comeback against Langwarrin. Trailing at half-time, Mehmet Uysal came off the bench and changed the game. The Redbacks equalised through an own goal from Josh Dennett’s long throw on 53 minutes, before Uysal delivered the decisive set piece for Finn Diamond’s headed winner in the 88th. The Redbacks’ dominance at the dead ball is no mere stereotype. North Geelong will have seen the footage. How they deal with it is another matter.
The question hanging over this one is Marcus Day. The forward went down injured inside 25 minutes against Langwarrin and couldn’t continue. Day has been central to the Redbacks’ attacking output this season, opening the scoring inside three minutes against Western United in Round 5, and providing a constant threat upfront. If he’s unavailable, the coaching staff will need to adjust. If he’s fit, it changes the shape of the match.
North Geelong’s season has been a mix of sharp home performances and difficult days on the road. Their Round 6 result was impressive, a 2-0 win at Port Melbourne. Before that, a 1-3 loss at home to Manningham in Round 5 and a 0-3 defeat at Northcote in Round 4. The talent is there. Anthony Banovac won the VPL2 Best and Fairest in 2025, and Sonny Brimmer took the VPL2 Golden Boot with 16 goals in the same campaign. Stuart Begg’s side know what they’re doing in the final third. The inconsistency has been in the other direction, conceding in clusters when the pressure builds.
Elcho Park is a proper road trip for the travelling support, and the Warriors’ Croatian heritage fanbase will make it a hostile venue. The Redbacks’ away record offers reassurance. Three wins from three on the road this season, at Victory Youth, Bulleen, and Western United, proving Eltham’s purported reliance on their synthetic pitch is a myth.
It’s a match between two sides in close contention for successive promotions. A win at Elcho Park would stretch the gap to four points, and reinforce an away record that has quietly become one of the best in the league.
Saturday afternoon. Lara. One point in it.
Up the ‘Backs.
Round 7 | Saturday 28 March 2026 | 5:00 PM | Elcho Park, Lara (Away)