Newtown & Chilwell coach Jacob Spolding is taking the glass half full approach.
He feels last Saturday's 10 goal loss to ladder leader Bell Park paints an inaccurate picture of where his side sits after five rounds.
In fact, the first year coach is convinced the match proved that the Eagles' best footy is good enough to challenge anyone in the GFL.
The Eagles face a genuine test of their improvement today against third placed St Joseph's at Drew Reserve in one of the matches of the round.
But is was the Eagles' first half showing against Bell Park, where they stifled the Dragons' usual early dominance, that most pleased Spolding last weekend.
"We certainly felt we played the match on our terms and even had the better of them in the first half," Spolding said.
"In the end, their experience allowed them to pull away and win comfortably, but I don't think it's a reflection of where we're at, there were some real positive signs."
"We know that our best footy is well and truly around the mark of any side's best footy."
"We played the game on our terms for a quarter and a half against Bell Park and sides against them in recent games have been blown away early, but we showed we were anything but that."
The Eagles have a couple injury worries, including David McVilly and Rob Corneby (arm), compounding the loss of Matt McMahon for the season. But Spolding said their absence had paved the way for some promising early season form from Lewis Hyland and Luke Kermond.
Spolding believes today's clash will be decided in the midfield and is backing his defenders to quell the star studded Joeys' forward line.
Last Modified on 16/01/2012 12:18