Muswellbrook Eagles Football Club president and first grade player Andrew Spradbrow said it was a long time coming.

“All year we hadn’t been losing by much,” he said.

“We’ve been controlling most of the game and slipping at the end.”

Spradbrow said the return of players who had been resting from injury was a good boost for the team at the weekend.

“We definitely played well,” he said.

“It was good to have everyone back.”

Spradbrow scored one of the team’s goals, as did Lindsey Smith and Shawn Honeysett; with Jack Clare claiming a double for the Muswellbrook crew.

“Lachlan Nicol got a hat-trick and Lindsey Smith was the players’ player,” Spradbrow said.

”We held the midfield pretty well and had 80 per cent of the ball most of the time.”

Spradbrow believes the team is in good form ahead of the season’s final five games, including Saturday’s clash with New Lambton.

“We’re playing at home this weekend and we’ve got our annual Old Boys Day up there as well,” he said, adding the event would include players from all the club’s travelling teams.

“I think we’ll get a win.

“We played New Lambton down there earlier in the year.

“We led 2-0 at one stage and then let it slip to lose 3-2.

“We are definitely a stronger squad [now].”

The team’s hopes of finals representation in 2017 may be over, but Spradbrow is optimistic about the future.

”We don’t have a chance to make the play-offs,” he told the Chronicle.

“We made our chase too late unfortunately.

“But, 2017 has been a year of rebuilding.

“We lost about five [senior] players and now have young players coming through.

“There is definitely potential.”

Spradbrow said the team benefited from the efforts of volunteers who work to make the club all it can be.

To follow the team’s results, find Muswellbrok Eagles Football Club on Facebook.