Tara Murray
Unlucky is the best way to describe the season so far for Taylors Lakes in the Essendon District Football League division 2.
Having come down to division 2 after a winless 2021 in the higher division, the Lions sit in sixth spot after eight rounds.
Lions president David Darcy said results wise, it hadn’t quite been the year they were after, there were plenty of good signs for the future.
“We’re quite happy with the way things are going,” he said.
‘We were never going to come down and dominate. We virtually turned over our whole list and are building together.”
Darcy said the average age of the side each week was 19 to 21, with the group really sticking together and working well.
He said having had an older group in recent years, they needed to start over again and build something.
“We always planned to rebuild,” he said. “It was a very old list.
“We knew it would be hard and we would have to go backwards to go forward. They’ve been quite good and I can’t fault them at all.”
While the ladder shows two wins, heading into the game against Northern Saints on Saturday, a closer look shows how close the Lions are.
Four of their games were decided by less than two goals, including a draw against Burnside Heights.
Among those losses was a one point loss to top side Keilor Park.
Darcy said the difference in those matches was the experience of the other sides at the crucial points of the match.
“Young kids and young bodies,” he said, was the reason for not being able to get over the line.
“If we can win one the confidence will grow. The group is really tight and sticking together.
“This will make the club stronger for years to come.”
Darcy said there were plenty of young stars who had stood up this season including the likes of Luke Nappi and Tomi Ibarra.
Returning to the field after a week off with the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, Darcy said the group was still focused on trying to make finals.
“We’ll keep going out there trying to win games,” he said.
“It will come our way great, if not it will make us stronger for next year.”
Darcy said while it had been tough at times for the senior team, the rest of the club was going well, with the club having junior sides in every age group.
