By Chelsea Carden
As we enter the second half of the season, Waverley Blues have their sights set on finals. For the Blues, the first half the season has been of ups and downs for the team with close victories and almost wins.
The team has suffered some close loses to Doncaster East and East Burwood earlier on in the season, games that the Blues could have overcome to snap the win.
Coach Ben Carboni said Doncaster East was in front for the entirety of the game but said it was a close one and was within the team’s grasp. The East Burwood loss, however, proved to leave a sting for the club.
“It was a credit to East Burwood and I hope it’s a catalyst for us on the improve, we had a good look at things after the game and hopefully we’ve rectified them.”
Despite the Blues loosing the close wins, they’ve had some great victories in the season, winning by less than 4 points in the final seconds. In a nail bitter against Wantirna, they came up one point better in the dying seconds of the game to secure the win. Earlier in the season, they snatched a win away from Moorolbark winning by only 3 points in the last minute of the match.
Carboni said that the wins have been a great confidence boost for the team.
“It’s a really big plus for us, in the past those close games have gone the other way for us. They are confidence boosting in terms of going forward.”
As the home stretch towards the end of the season approaches, the Blues sit at 5th place on the ladder – Coach Ben Carboni said that he hopes the narrow loses don’t come back to haunt the team, however, he remains positive about Waverley’s chance to play in the finals.
“I’d like to say we’ve got ourselves into a position where we are a good chance to play.”
Carboni said that the club is also in a great position and have definitely improved on last year, with positive progress seen in all areas of the club, both on and off the field.
“The whole club has improved from board level down to the under 19s, with the 19s up and running and the reserves playing well, the club is in a good position; the seniors are further ahead on the loss to win ratio compared to last year.”
Waverley Blues face Doncaster East again this Saturday at Mt Waverley reserve, all will be watching to see if the blues can get up over the Doncaster to make up for the close loss in round 3.