Wednesday 18 August 2010
Teenage Mt Gravatt midfielder Damien Steven has been a key part of Mt Gravatt’s stunning six-game winning streak that has taken the Vultures from also-rans to the QAFL’s hottest outfit.
Steven, 19, has been an outstanding contributor since returning mid-season from trialling with the Gold Coast Suns.
He produced arguably his best performance yet with four goals from the midfield in the Vultures’ impressive 15.13 (103) to 11.11 (77) win at Southport last Saturday.
“I don’t usually kick many goals so it was really good,” said the former Vultures junior.
In a tight, uncompromising contest, Steven was able to find space often where others couldn’t.
He won plenty of possession in the midfield despite having the attention of two of the best opposition midfielders in the competition, Matthew Payne and Darren Pfeiffer.
“I was sweeping and Pfeiffer was coming to me most times,” Steven said of his role.
Since slipping to seventh place and seemingly out of finals contention after Round 11, the Vultures have beaten every team above them in winning six successive games and have now qualified to host the elimination final.
Their final match of the home and away season is at Chelmer on Saturday, where they meet a Western Magpies outfit that have lost their last five games by an average of 100 points.
Steven has no doubt that Mt Gravatt can go deep into the finals series, despite having to play knockout finals every week.
“We can keep going, we just have keep training hard and powering through,” he said.
The Mt Gravatt defence was outstanding again at Southport, with more local products in Adam Tarrant and Jake Furfaro vying with Steven for best afield honours.
The two defenders have dominated in recent weeks and are a major part of the reason why the Vultures are being feared by all teams around them.
