Belvoir's Zac Simmonds hits his second half-century at Belvoir

Ex-skipper Zac Simmonds hit just the second half-century of his Eagles' career in a thrilling two-run win over Corowa on Saturday.

The club has now pushed its way into fifth as it looks to hold off a stack of challengers for a top six finish.

"Well, he's the hardest man to get out in the nets, if you look at his scores, even when he was batting 8,9, or 10, he's always valued his wicket, he never gives it up easily," captain Drew Cameron declared.

Since joining the Eagles from Kiewa in 2013-14, Simmonds has had 74 innings, but only opened on six occasions.

Fifty-eight of those innings have been between No. 8-11.

"It certainly wasn't a plan going into the season, but with the top four we had it just wasn't working," Cameron revealed.

'I asked him what his thoughts on opening were and he said, 'if that's what you want me to do, I'll do it'.

"It's the type of fella he is, he's a hard worker and he plays the game in the right spirit, I'm stoked for him."

Sporting clubs can fall into the habit of 'pigeon-holing' players, so the gutsy decision to catapult a tailender, albeit a long-time representative player who captained Riverina against powerhouse Newcastle in the NSW Country Championship grand final last February, into the top order is credit to the club's leadership group, led by co-coaches Robbie Mackinlay and former Canberra star Joe Cooke.

"They're both from successful clubs, Joe brings a different mentality, much like (former ACT captain) Matt Condon does at North Albury, while Robbie's as qualified as any coach in Victoria and NSW," Cameron explained.

"Robbie's a good technical batting coach and he's really good with the fielding, but he also brings a level of energy to training and game day that we probably haven't had in the last two or three years."

Meanwhile, Cameron had praise for Corowa's English debutant Arthur Godsal.

"He's got a lot of tricks with the ball, bowls seam up, is sharp enough and he's a genuinely nice guy," Cameron enthused.

"He played in the right spirit, in fact the entire Corowa team did, in a tight game you'd think there might have been a bit of fire, but both sides were well behaved."

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