By Connor Schmidtke
Division Three has been one of the more competitive divisions in the EFNL this season, with the bottom five sides separated by just one game and percentage.
One team in the fight to avoid relegation is the Whitehorse Pioneers, who currently sit in sixth place with four wins from their 12 games so far. Despite only a handful of wins so far this season, the Pioneers have been competitive in most of their games, with key moments the difference between a finals push and a relegation race.
The Pioneers are a far improved side already from their 2021 campaign, but still need a strong finish to the year to avoid being relegated into Division Four.
Senior coach Duncan Jones said that despite the lack of wins so far, he is still pleased with the progress they have made this year. In comparison to their 12-games from the 2021 season, the Pioneers are conceding almost 10-points per game less to their opposition, showing their improvements this year.
“Whilst we’ve only got the four wins at the moment, we have been in games where we probably should have won and didn’t.
“We’re competitive with the top sides – we’ve managed to knock off two of the top four teams – our percentage has increased; our scoring has increased and our points against have decreased.
“We’re tracking on the right trajectory. Our reserves have only had two or three wins last year and they sit in the top four at the moment, so we’re putting things in place to ensure that upwards trajectory continues.”
Whitehorse are coming off another close loss last Saturday, falling to Warrandyte by just six points after leading late in the final term.
Jones said that although the loss was disappointing, but he was happy with his side’s dominance for most of the day.
“We had 58 inside 50’s to 32, we had more scoring shots, more tackles, more centre clearances. Statistically speaking, we should’ve won the game.
“It’s all about converting when we have the opportunities. Against Waverley Blues we had more inside-50’s as well a couple of weeks ago, and just didn’t really capitalise.
“When we play these top sides, we’re more than competitive, where as last year we were getting touched up a fair bit.”
With some winnable games to end their season, Whitehorse have a great opportunity to finish the season on a positive note and roll into 2023 with some momentum. The run home includes the three teams currently below them on the ladder, with no games against top four sides either.
Jones says that his team still has a lot to play for this year, with the team still having goals to achieve.
“We’re consistent with the progress that we’re making. For the rest of the year, we’ve got four games and we expect to win all four of them.
“You never want to go into a game thinking you might lose or produce an honourable loss, that’s not the mentality I played my football with and I’m not going to take it into my coaching either.
“We want to make sure we win all four games. Then next year we want to regroup again and identify our strengths and weaknesses in our list, address them in the offseason and reload again for 2023.”
The Pioneers will begin their run home with a game against Fairpark on the road this weekend.