Tara Murray
Taylors Lakes is hoping to get some players back from injury as it pushes for a finals spot in the Essendon District Football League division 2.
The Lions were in fourth spot after eight rounds, with six teams still fighting for a spot in the top four.
Lions coach Steve Burns said how close the competition is was crazy.
“It’s really even and you have to be on each week, if not any week you can be beaten,” he said.
“It reminds me of the division 1 competition back in the day.
“If you had have told me we would be 5-2 having played everyone once at the start of the year, we would have taken that every day of the week.”
Burns said like several other teams in the competition, they had been hit hard by injuries.
He said it had made the job of gelling a reasonably new squad together a lot harder.
“We’ve had nine players out for basically five to six weeks,” he said.
“We played all the sides around us and managed to beat them, apart from the top two sides.
“We are below them at the moment. Once we get our best side on the park we will be competitive with both of them.”
The Lions got a couple of players back on the weekend against Oak Park. The Kangaroos though, who had been struggling with injuries, got more back, and fielded one of their strongest sides of the season.
Burns said they were confident of having a few players returning in the coming weeks.
“We got a couple back last week and we get a couple more back this week,” he said.
“We’re looking at another two to three weeks for everyone else. Hopefully we don’t lose anyone else to injury in the meantime.”
The Lions faced Hadfield on Saturday which was after deadline.
The Lions came away with a 14.8 (92)-5.9 (39) win.
Burns said before the match that it wouldn’t be easy.
“If you are 10 per cent off, you’re not going to win,” he said. “It’s the second half of the year now.
“We’re only one game away from fifth and sixth and one game away from second.”
Burns said right now they were seeing some really good signs across the whole club. He said Taylors Lakes is getting its mojo back.
“The seconds are undefeated and the under-18s are a lot better than we thought they would be,’ he said.
“The seconds are only going to get stronger when we get players back. The club is in a good position off the field as well.”
