By Wil Spence
After another impressive outing on the weekend defeating Fairpark, Warrandyte coach Paul Donahoo is becoming more and more content with his sides scoring prowess up forward, after the Bloods reached triple figures for the first time this season.
“We haven’t fully clicked down forward, but to have 31 scoring shots you will take that any day of the week,” said Donahoo after his side moved back into second spot on the Division Three ladder.
Warrandyte lost some key players in their back half throughout the game, so Donahoo was proud of his sides effort to withstand the Lions attack in the last quarter, only being outscored by two goals in the final quarter.
However, he would like his side to continue to keep striving to play 4 quarters of football.
“We had four of our starting back six on the bench that couldn’t go back on in the last quarter, I think we lost the quarter by a couple of a goals, there’s excuses in there, we don’t accept it, but we probably got two to three quarters out of four, better then the week before but we want to keep improving.”
Donahoo found it difficult to pick his sides best players, highlighting an even contribution from his side. But he was very happy with key defender Jakeb Cullen Hall and his players forward of the footy.
“It was tough to name our best, but I thought Jakeb Cullen-Hall down back, especially in the first quarter, took a few intercept marks and was switching the ball really well, Mitchell Buckley played his usual game in and under game, we had a really good spread forward, Luke Dunn came in for his first game kicked a couple, plus Tom Grimes was strong through the middle and forward kicked a couple.”
With a win-loss record of 5-2, Donahoo is pleased with the position his side is in but is adamant they have plenty of motivation to attack the second half of the season.
“The motivation is there; I still feel we haven’t hit our best yet,
“There’s competition for spots and we’re building,
“We’re pretty happy to be sitting out right second, because we know it’s an even comp and we’ve got to produce to play finals this year.”
Division Three is shaping as one of the closest divisions across the EFNL and Donahoo is focused on his side maintaining their winning streak as they aim for a top two berth, which could prove vital at the pointy end of the season.
“Your goal is to get to finals, secretly you want top two, because anything can happen on any given day,
“Getting that double chance, so that if you do lose the second semi, you have still got a chance in the preliminary final.”
The Bloods focus their attention on a Glen Waverley side who caused a major upset during their last outing defeating Whitehorse at home.
Donahoo is excited for the challenge the Hawks present and is hoping for his side to start hitting their strides as they take on top side Waverley Blues the following weekend.
“We haven’t come up against Glen Waverley yet, hopefully we can tick that box, but like I’ve said it’s such an even competition,
“They defeated Whitehorse last week, so every game is a test at this stage,
“Teams will change a bit, our personnel will change a fair bit, hopefully the boys are ready, they know what’s coming, and hopefully we come out on top again.”
