The Northern Blues may not have come away with the win against Box Hill, but a piece of individual brilliance from Ciaran Byrne had the fans at Ikon Park pining for more.

Northern’s first recognised major against VFL opposition in 2016 will take some beating, with Byrne’s running goal from defensive to attacking 50 already the front-runner as a goal of the year contender.

Bringing back memories of Craig Bradley’s goal at the same end of the same ground against West Coast some 22 years ago, Byrne’s major was the most spectacular way imaginable for Northern to open their 2016 account.

Taking an intercept mark 40 metres from his own goal, Byrne would go onto take two bounces, receive two get-and-go handballs through the corridor and end up converting from just inside his own 50. 

The Irishman said he was simply “lucky” to get on the end of a brilliant passage of play that resulted in his first goal in 18 months.

“I was just lucky enough to get on the end of it a few times: I got the ball in the back half and got on the end of the chain, and ended up running inside 50 and kicking a ‘snag’,” Byrne said.

“It’s always a good feeling to get forward and kick a goal.”

The goal wasn’t enough to inspire the Blues to victory, with the Hawks piling on the goals late to come away with a comfortable 50-point win.

Byrne said the young Blues side had a lot to work on but some positives to take out of the game ahead of the next practice match against Richmond.

“It was good to get a first hit-out: I haven’t played VFL in a while now so to get the first game out of the way is always good,” Byrne said.

“It’s all about getting ready for Richmond, sorting out our ball movement because I think we were a bit predictable in the early going but I think we looked good in the second half.

“If we can sort that out against Richmond and manage to open them up we’ll be pretty happy.”

The 21-year-old said he had been working hard over the summer when it came to building his endurance and being able to offer more run off half-back, whether at Carlton or Northern Blues level.

“I’ve really worked on my endurance over the off-season and getting those kinds of runs off half back: the more I can manage is better for me and the team,” Byrne said.

“I’ve got to work on the defensive side of my game and hopefully I can iron those out and it can be a good year.”

Byrne will be looking to make amends for a disappointing 2015: after initially looking so promising, two hamstring injuries restricted him to just one AFL game and two VFL games.

Understandably, Byrne’s aim for 2016 was to remain out on the park, and continue to build on the foundations he’s set in his first two years at the Blues.

As for venturing forward and kicking another goal of the year contender? 

“If I can get on the end of a few more goals that’d be nice, but first and foremost it’s about defending and helping the team out and we’ll go from there!”