A 119-point thrashing of Hadfield in Essendon District Football League division 1 was not enough to completely satisfy Taylors Lakes coach Sam Tankard – instead, he viewed the game as a missed opportunity.
His side kick 22 goals in the Saturday home game and comfortably accounted for the Hawks, but Tankard said they blew the chance to get a giant percentage boost by kicking 22 behinds.
“No disrespect to Hadfield but I thought we played quite poorly,” Tankard said.
“I was hoping for a better performance … I was after that 30-goal mark, but the boys were just a little off.
“This season is so close that finals could come down to percentage and you don’t want to rue missed opportunities.”
The result was never in doubt, with the Lions kicking five goals to one in the first quarter and another five in the second to lead by 51 points at half-time.
Teenager Torey Larizza was very good in his first senior game with three goals.
The spread of goal-kickers was a handful for the Hadfield defenders – ten Lions scored majors in the rout, while Luke Hodgkin racked up 50 disposals in the win.
The final score was 22.22 (154)-5.5(35).
Tankard said that with a reasonable run towards finals, he was hopeful his side could taste some surprise September action this year.
“Glenroy is the only side we play above us so we go into games knowing we can win them,” he said of the schedule.
“The competition is so even, though, so three wins should see us finish fourth, two wins and it might come down to percentage.
“With where we’ve come from it’s been a slow progression – four wins in my first year, six last year … we thought if we won ten this year, we’d go close to finals –we’re not far off that at the moment.
“We’ll get three or four blokes back next week, so we’ll be confident going into our last four games.”
In other results, Hillside ran all over Oak Park after half-time to register a 20.14 (134)-8.8 (56) win and hang on to second place on the ladder.
Brandon Coletta booted seven goals to lead the Sharks to the points.
In division 2, Burnside Heights was smashed by Jacana to the tune of 164 points, with the Bears managing just two goals for the game.
Keilor Park conceded seven first-quarter goals to Roxburgh Park and was unable to come back as it fell to a 29-point defeat.
