Tara Murray
Keilor Park will take its start to life back in Essendon District Football League division 1.
The Devils, who have a bye this weekend, have won two of their first three matches, exceeding most outside expectations.
Devils coach Paul Guicas said that he can’t really complain about how things have gone so far.
“We’ve been happy after the Hillside game,” he said.
“We learned a lot from that game. After that game we were talking about the challenges that you will face during the year.
“We faced that in both games against Craigieburn and Moonee Valley, they came at us and we held strong and played really well.”
Guicas said while they didn’t add many in the off season, that the current playing group was adapting to playing at the higher level.
He said that they still have at least 10 to 15 per cent improvement in them.
“Michael Gatt [a recruit] has been good in the middle and up forward,” he said. “We’ve got some guys that have come up from the twos and are playing really well.
“We play Rupertswood the week after this and hopefully we’ll know where we’re at.”
In recent history, two wins has been enough to ensure a team remains in division 1. The last team to win two matches and be relegated was East Keilor in 2015.
While this season will have two teams relegated, Guicas said just avoiding relegation wasn’t their focus.
“There’s a top five this year, and why not aim to make finals,” he said.
“We want to aim for the bottom part of that. We’re going to get better and better.
“There are going to be challenges and we’ll go with that. Some we won’t get over.”
The Devils side will get stronger in the coming weeks.
Skipper Daylan Kempster has missed the last two weeks, while ruck Scott Pontin missed the win against Craigieburn.
Gucias said the bye came at the right time for the side and they would be back to having a full squad to pick from for the next match against Rupertswood.
“We’re playing at home,” he said. “It’s a funny place to play at home.
“Hopefully we’ll come out hard and we can get the win. I’ll go and watch them on the weekend.”
