Wangaratta Rovers' veteran Shane Gaston says his best off-season in years, spearheaded by taking up pilates, was behind a career-high six goals against Lavington in the Ovens and Murray Football League on Saturday.
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The 35-year-old proved the difference in the three-point win as the Hawks jumped to a 5-0 start.
"This pre-season I was able to get my body right," he said after the crackerjack win.
"It's been a big problem for the last five or six years, so to get my body moving is a massive advantage, makes it more enjoyable."
A ruckman for much of his career, with the ability to push forward, it was Gaston's best game in many years.
"I had on-going, old-age issues, a lot of sore spots and general tightness, my partner is a pilates teacher so she got me into pilates, which got me going and helped with my overall movement, especially in the hips, which is where a lot of the problems were," he revealed.
Coach Sam Murray has been delighted with the big man's resurgence.
"He's worked really hard to get himself in a position to play senior footy and it's good to see him get the rewards," he offered.
Gaston's resurrection is crucial to Rovers' hopes of snapping a 30-year premiership drought.
The club signed VFL big man John Jorgensen over the off-season, but when he elected to return to state level, it left the Hawks short of a big man to support leading goalkicker Alex Marklew.
However, the 195cm Gaston can now interchange with ruck Will Christie, who starred in the first two games but then missed the next two.
"Against Corowa (Rutherglen) in the last few minutes, a young guy dived across my legs and I did a grade two MCL (medial collateral ligament), but it feels pretty good," Christie suggested on his return.
And Rovers were also delighted with the form of Brodie Filo.
Since debuting at Wodonga Raiders in 2017, the supremely skilful midfielder-forward has been the league's best kick and he again showed it with a 50m pass to a running Dylan Wilson late in the first quarter, which set up a Marklew goal.
"We want to keep getting that balance between defending and his mid work, but his movement around the footy was really good," Murray explained.
But it wasn't just Filo's kicking which caught the eye.
At the 23-minute mark of the third quarter, from a ball up in front of the teams' benches, Christie tapped the ball to Filo, who delivered a short handball to Lochie O'Brien in space and from there Gaston had a 5m break from Lavington's Adam Butler for another goal.
Rovers are away to North Albury on Saturday after the Hoppers lost their first game against Albury on Anzac Day.
