Keilor coach Mick McGuane has flagged significant change to his side in the coming weeks as their finals chances hang by a thread.
Keilor fell away badly in the final quarter of its clash with Strathmore on Saturday, leaving it two games and significant percentage out of the EDFL Premier Division top four with just six games remaining.
McGuane said some tough decisions may need to be made soon.
“We’ll treat each game as it comes until it’s mathematically impossible [to make finals],” McGuane said.
“We’ll keep integrity with our selection process until season’s end, but in saying that if it’s mathematically impossible it might be time to give others a go.
“There might be some guys who you’ve had trust to get the job done, if they’re not living up to their end of the bargain then we’ll make some hard calls on their footy futures.”
Keilor went into the clash with Strathmore knowing a win would have it just percentage out of the finals places and started well to take an eight-point lead into the first break.
Strathmore was far more effective with the ball in hand, especially with its forward 50 entries which nearly always resulted in a score.
Keilor’s efforts around the ground could not be questioned, but Strathmore took the lead in the second term and stretched away to establish a 10-point buffer by the long break thanks to a six-goals-to-three quarter.
Keilor captain Dylan Joyce went down with a foot injury in the second quarter and didn’t return to the ground.
An arm wrestle in the third set up a tantalising last quarter, with the visitors hanging on to a nine-point lead.
Unfortunately for Keilor it would get no closer, failing to score a goal in the final quarter as Strathmore booted four unanswered goals in the final ten minutes to take the win 18.10 (118) – 12.13 (85).
Jason Williams was good all day with four goals, getting good support from Dean Galea with three, but McGuane said it was simply not enough for the full four quarters.
“Williams was clearly our best, and a few other boys were OK, but it really was left to too few across the day,” he said.
“We were disappointing in our ball retention, and they made the most of our sloppy ball use coming out of defence.
“We won the first and the third quarters, but they won the game, and when the game was up for grabs and it meant something, they found more than we did.”
The competition has a bye this week, with Keilor planning to bounce back against West Coburg in a fortnight.
