By Wil Spence
Things are starting to heat up in the Premier division as sides fight for spots in the top six.
But having won four of their last five games, Blackburn is one of the in-form teams of the competition, after fighting off Balwyn on the weekend in convincing fashion, thanks to eight goals from Ryan Bathie.
With three clubs, Park Orchards, Norwood, and Vermont six points outside sixth position on the ladder, pressure is beginning to mount on Brendan Allen’s Blackburn outfit.
Allen was over the moon with his side’s performance but is wary of resting on their laurels for the remaining six games of the Premier Division season.
“We really put it up to them in the first quarter, they were always going to respond, they actually made it more of a scrap, the fast start helped us, but we seem to be in control most of the day,
“We can’t sit back now and say we’re a game and a half clear and we’re there [finals] we’ve got to keep winning.”
Key forward Bathie was instrumental for Blackburn, but it was the delivery that had Allen licking his lips.
“The delivery to him [Ryan Bathie] in the first 10 rounds hasn’t been great, our ball use and the way we move the ball from our stoppages and back half last week was a massive improvement and translated on the scoreboard.”
Goal kicking has been a major problem this season for Blackburn sitting eight hon the ladder for points for. With a relatively sound back six, in particular over the past month according to Allen, he believes the scores will start to come if they continue to put together more four quarter performances like they did on the weekend against Balwyn.
“That was our issue to start off with, we could’ve won against Noble Park, but our set shots let us down and against Rowville our set shots let us down again, but I think what happened on the weekend was that we actually got a consistent four quarter performance,
“Where really focused was on our defence, our last month has been really good, and I think we got it right on the day, but I think going forward we still need a bit of work
“You have got to be able to defend, but you have got to kick a score as well, especially come finals.”
Blackburn will look to make it five wins out of their last six games against the winless North Ringwood on the weekend, but Allen believes this clash looms as a danger game after a disappointing outing against them in 2021.
“We can’t afford to take any game lightly, we have got to keep winning, we see this as a danger game, and they will have the confidence and belief to do what they did last year.”
