AS we pass the half-way point of the season, footy teams across the west are now turning their attention to second half of the season.
Media Manager Kristen Alebakis speaks to all the Division 1 coaches about how they think their club is tracking after nine rounds. Plus we look at their ladder position and percentage this year and compare it to the same time last year.
Check it out below:
Last year:
W: 3 L: 6
Ladder Position: 6th
Percentage: 86.89%
This year:
W: 6 L: 3
Ladder Position: 3rd
Percentage: 162.43%
Coach’s comment:
“I think we have achieved what we wanted to have achieved at the midway point of the season,” coach Barney Hallinan said.
“In saying that we know we have plenty of room for improvement.
“The buy in from the playing group has been excellent.
“We are striving to achieve our ultimate goal of playing finals. We want to continue to improve in the second half of the year, so we can be a player during finals.”
Last year:
W: 5 L: 3
Ladder Position: 4th
Percentage: 103.90%
This year:
W: 8 L: 1
Ladder Position: 2nd
Percentage: 178.98%
Coach’s comment:
“We are 8-1, which is a surprise,” coach Anthony Eames. “To be where we are is above expectations a little bit.
“We have a bit to work on to stay there over the next nine weeks. All the clubs are getting better and improving and so do we.
“I have been out of the competition for a couple of years and this year I have really noticed that every week is a danger game.
“The competition is looking very healthy. Realistically any side in the top seven can beat any other side, which is unusual for any competition. It hast been like this for the past four or five years.”
Last year:
W: 2 L: 7
Ladder Position: 9th
Percentage: 55.21%
This year:
W: 1 L: 8
Ladder Position: 9th
Percentage: 44.23%
Coach’s comment:
“I think we are a coming along okay, it has taken a little while to gel, we have had a lot of new players come into the senior side,” coach Daniel Bunworth said.
“Our goal for the second half of the year is to continue to be competitive in all matches and turn those close losses into a couple more wins.”
This year:
W: 0 L: 9
Ladder Position: 10th
Percentage: 50.10%
Coach’s comment:
“Our season is growing over the past four or five weeks,” coach Marc Raak said.
“We are not playing bad football, but we aren’t playing four quarter footy.
“There is a lot of improvement to come, we need to start playing harder for longer and sustain that pressure over four quarters.
“We are delighted to be in the Division 1 competition, we are looking forward to the second part of the year, hopefully we can get a couple of wins.”
Deer Park
Last year:
W: 7 L: 2
Ladder Position: 2nd
Percentage: 142.52%
This year:
W: 8 L: 1
Ladder Position: 1st
Percentage: 187.45%
Coach’s comment:
“We are going well at the moment,” coach Marc Bullen said.
“We didn’t start the season well, but we have improved our performance and started to play some good football.
“We have a big couple of weeks ahead of us, with Altona this week and then Spotswood. Getting points against those teams will put us in a good position to secure top place.
“The reason we have played so well in finals has been off the back of having the first week off in finals, so hopefully we can string some good wins together against some quality opposition.”
Last year:
W: 5 L: 4
Ladder Position: 3rd
Percentage: 115.92%
This year:
W: 5 L: 4
Ladder Position: 6th
Percentage: 79.93%
Coach’s comment:
“At the moment we have been able to beat teams lower than us, but we haven’t been able to match it with the teams above us,” coach Chris Gilham said.
“We haven't been able to play consistent footy against those team.
“We were in it against Spotswood and Sunshine to half-time and then we have fallen away and good teams make you pay.
“Hopefully we will be able to get a few players back in and be a bit stronger than we have been over the past six weeks.”
Last year:
W: 2 L: 7
Ladder Position: 8th
Percentage: 93.55%
This year:
W: 2 L: 7
Ladder Position: 8th
Percentage: 61.59%
Coach’s comment:
“With a 2-7 record it’s not the greatest position to be in and to be honest, it’s not where I expected the team to be at this stage of the season,” coach Fabian Carelli said.
“It seems the competition has gone up another level and we as a team have yet to make inroads on bridging the gap on the rest of the competition.
“At this stage, it’s fair to say we have been a little disappointing, but not all is lost and with a few key players coming back over the next few weeks, we are looking for much improved performances.
“On the positive side, we have been able to unearth a couple of promising kids in Amar El Nour, James Krajina and Jimmy Cimbaljevic, who have all acquitted themselves quite well at Senior level.
“As a club, we will look to blood a few more kids over the next nine rounds from our Under-17 and Under-19 ranks as well as give more opportunities to players from our reserves who are playing consistent football.”
Last year:
W: 8 L: 1
Ladder Position: 1st
Percentage: 170.06%
This year:
W: 6 L: 3
Ladder Position: 4th
Percentage: 156.24%
Coach’s comment:
“The competition is a lot even this year, I don’t think there is any easy games,” coach Steve Kretiuk said.
“We haven’t hit our straps yet, we are going at about 60 to 70 per cent capacity, which is either a good or a bad sign.
“We have a lot more improvement in us, we have played 30-odd players already, so we have given the group a lot of opportunity.
“In the back end of the competition we hope to have the right mix and play some good games together, so we can have a good crack at finals.”
Last year:
W: 5 L: 4
Ladder Position: 5th
Percentage: 97.85%
This year:
W: 5 L: 4
Ladder Position: 5th
Percentage: 138.08%
Coach’s comment:
“The club in general is in a good position, the Seniors are 5-4, we are 8-1 in the Reserves and the Under-19s are undefeated, so overall we are happy,” coach Saade Ghazi said.
“The win loss ratio with the Seniors isn’t where we thought we would be, we feel we are one or two wins away from where we would like to be.
“The goal for the second half of the year is to win more than five games.
“We are obviously wanting to win enough games to play finals. We want to be in that top three, which will be hard. Our aim at the start of the year was to win 12 games and that’s what we will be aiming to achieve.”
Last year:
W: 3 L: 6
Ladder Position: 7th
Percentage: 83.59%
This year:
W: 4 L: 5
Ladder Position: 7th
Percentage: 73.46%
Coach’s comment:
“We have certainly improved as the year has gone on,” coach Chris O’Keefe said.
“We have had a number of new faces in the team, so we have need time to start gelling together and learn the new game style and game plan, but we have had enough time to get used each other.
“We have competed really well with the better teams, but we have a long way to go.
“The goal for the remainder of the season is to simply to win more games than we lose. We won four of our first nine, we want to win five of the last nine and maybe sneak into finals.”
Last Modified on 22/06/2017 10:32