By Will Spence
After 12 rounds, it is quite clear who the team to beat is at this stage of the Division Three season.
Waverley Blues are by far the form team of the competition after being narrowly defeated by Warrandyte in Round One by three points.
Since then, it has been all guns blazing for the 2019 Division Three Runner’s Up.
After a below par performance against Whitehorse on the road, a win like this from Tom Langford’s Waverley Blues against Fairpark could be the catalyst to a scary backend of the season.
Langford, who was best afield with five majors and over 30 disposals, was pleased with his sides forward 50 entries that set them up for a great opportunity to bank another four points.
“Obviously a couple of things went our way, with various Fairpark injuries which didn’t help them, but we were able to capitalise on our forward entries after quarter time and especially in the third quarter which was impressive and powerful,
“Home ground advantage is a real thing in this division, we probably struggled to adapt to Whitehorse [Pioneers] ground two weeks back, and full credit to them [Whitehorse Pioneers] they defended really well, but it was a poor performance by us and to bounce back with a bit more of a comprehensive performance was really impressive.”
With only one loss to their name, the risk of complacency is a major driving factor for Langford’s outfit to continue their winning streak, in their last six weeks.
“You know when you’re obviously in front on the ladder as we are, there can be a risk of complacency and we’re trying hard to avoid that and we saw on the weekend the guys have fought through that,
“We’ve got two byes coming up to finish in the next six weeks.
“With that comes possible risk and some advantages.
“We have got to capitalise on that and freshen the guys up and can train through some specifics of where we think there’s areas to improve, but we also run the risk of switching off,
“I’ve never seen a team train necessarily well during a bye week.
“Obviously we have got a couple of them [byes] coming up with finals and big games on either side of them, so a major focus for us is to really maintain our standards.”
With double relegation in Division Three, as many as five teams are separated by under a game or less. The evenness of the competition is great to see, and Langford believes playing these sides could benefit their preparation towards their finals campaign playing in games that have a finals like feel.
“With the double relegation and only nine sides, every game now is a big game for almost every side, we understand that we’re playing against teams who are hungry for whatever their situation is, whether it’s finals or relegation,
“In many ways we have got to match the sides intensity and that can help prepare us for finals.”