Deer Park is aiming to sharpen its game heading into the Essendon District Football League division 1 finals.
Having locked in a top two spot, the Lions are keen to make sure that they have everything in order for the pointy end of the season.
Lions coach Heath Scotland said he was looking forward to finals time.
“We’ve been building, but we certainly still have some work to do,” he said. “We’re preparing to be ready by finals time.
“It’s coming along nicely and we are settling the side more each week and the game plan is coming along.”
Scotland admits that it has been a challenging season so far despite the results showing just three losses by a total of nine points.
“We’ve used 40 players so far which is extremely high for a side sitting second on the top of the ladder,” he said of the club’s first season in the EDFL competition.
“VFL [Victorian Football League] commitments, injuries and being a first year coach getting a look at the whole list.
“We’ve turned over a number of players, but we’re pretty settled on what our best side looks like, just week to week we’ve been unable to field it due to a whole range of issues.
“We’re set to settle it down in time for finals.”
The Lions had more changes on the weekend, for the club’s side against Hillside, which was after deadline.
The Lions easily won it, 23.23 (161)-5.4 (34).
Todd Elton was among those to miss, with foot soreness.
Scotland said Elton would possibly be back the final round of the season, if not for finals.
Scotland said before the Hillside game, the side had been looking forward to the last two games of the regular season against the Sharks and Rupertswood.
Scotland said they wanted to play against some sides that would likely be playing finals.
The Lions will face Rupertswood two weeks in a row, playing them in a qualifying final.
“No disrespect, but we’ve played the three bottom sides the last three weeks,” he said.
“We want to build into games against some of the better sides, which will be a nice lead in.
“Last time we played Rupertswood we lost by one point. We want to sharpen our game and it’ll be good against quality sides.
“It’s a nice lead into finals.”
