Tara Murray
Keilor is taking it one week at a time as it fights for a top four spot in the Essendon District Football League premier division.
The Blues enters the weekend in fourth spot, one of five teams fighting for the four finals spots. Just four points separated the second through to fifth, but the Blues and East Keilor had a game in hand.
Blues coach Mick McGuane said there will be no easy matches in the run home.
“We will treat each week as it comes, we don’t have a long term focus of where we should be or could be,” he said.
“We’ll look to get the job done this week, win or lose we’ll see what happens.”
The Blues, who had last weekend off due to the split round, had won just one of their last four matches heading into Saturday’s game with Avondale Heights.
McGuane said the two losses, against Aberfeldie and Strathmore, were beaten by the better side on the day.
“We were outplayed by both Aberfeldie and Strathmore,” he said.
“We got lessons out of them. We kicked the highest score against Aberfeldie this season, but we just gave up too much.
“The boys have worked on what we needed to and looked to address some issues during the break.”
McGuane said player availability continued to be an ongoing battle this season. He said they had been expecting to lose more players for the game against Avondale Heights.
“Most clubs are trying to get the right personnel on a week to week basis,” he said.
“It’s not just us. You don’t know with COVID and when you might get them back.”
McGuane said they were also losing players who had chosen to work weekends, as it was more financially beneficial than playing football.
He said the league needed to look at the salary cap for next season.
“It’s a work or footy decision,” he said. “You completely understand players picking work.
“We have a salary cap of $100,000, but there’s country leagues with an extra $25,000. It’s something that has to be addressed.”
McGuane said they were expecting a tough challenge against Avondale Heights.
Avondale Heights sit in ninth, but have won two out of their last three games.
“They’re doing quite well,” he said. “They could have some VFL [Victorian Football League] players back and it will nearly be their strongest team.
“It will not be easy.”
