Taylors Lakes is preparing for a brutal spell in Essendon District Football League’s division 1.
In the next month, the Lions will face nothing but likely finalists and premiership contenders.
They take on Glenroy this week and follow that up with matches against West Meadows, Craigieburn and Oak Park.
Lions coach Sam Tankard said that even at this early stage of the season, it was clear all those sides had improved.
“There’s no doubt competition at the top end is better than last year,” he said.
Leading the way at the top of the ladder is Craigieburn.
The Eagles have bashed and crashed their way through the early part of the season with brothers Jason and Cameron Cloke doing plenty of damage up forward.
The Lions will go into their tough stretch well prepared. They are 3-1 after the first month of football and locked inside the top four.
From the first month, Tankard listed tackling, contested ball, clearances and limiting turnovers as the key areas in which his side needs to improve if it wants to compete with the top sides.
He has been impressed with his players’ ability to defend, with only Tullamarine having scored more than 100 points against the Lions so far.
“I think our defence is holding up really well considering we’re losing the clearances and turning the ball over,” he said.
“We need to look after the ball better and hold it in our forward line, then we can set up our defence behind the footy.”
