Former Collingwood premiership player Mick McGuane has been hailed as a “superstar coach” as Keilor charges towards finals.
With the thumping of Northern Saints by 54 points on Saturday, Keilor’s season goes from strength to strength in the Essendon District Football League.
Club president Craig Teal says he couldn’t be happier with the way his side attacked the first half of the season. Its
17.13 (115) to 8.13 (61) weekend victory leaves the Blues third in premier division with an 8-3 record seven weeks out from the finals.
PICTURE GALLERY | Keilor v Northern Saints
Praising McGuane for a “superstar” coaching effort that mirrored his 155-game AFL playing career, Teal said the club was tracking well after missing the finals in 2013.“We always said that all we want to do this year is be competitive,” he said.
“We’ve been very disappointed in the last couple of years that we’ve been out of the finals race very early on. Once again, Mick has got the best out of these kids and the senior group.”
The Blues’ only losses have come at the hands of powerful premiership contenders Avondale Heights, Greenvale and Aberfeldie.
Teal said the improvement from last season came down to the club’s young and experienced players stepping up.
“The previous couple of years we’ve had the expectation we would do well and we haven’t,” he said. “We decided that with some of these players not performing up to the level . . . we should play a lot more of the kids.
“The younger guys have performed unbelievably for us. And our more experienced players, who have been down the past couple of years, are coming back up with the development of the younger guys. It’s very positive.”
It isn’t just in the EDFL that Keilor players are making a name for themselves.
The club has five under-18 players playing for Vic Metro in the national championships.
“When Vic Metro played in Perth the other week, three of them played and they were second-, third- and fourth-best players on the ground,” Teal said. “It’s great for the club for them to be doing so well.”
Keilor looks to continue its winning run this week when the Blues are away to second-placed Strathmore at Lebanon Reserve, Strathmore.
