Tara Murray
St Albans is primed for a tilt at ending its finals drought in Western Region Football League division 1.
Having struggled in recent seasons, the Saints have shown they can match it with the top sides.
The Saints returned from a COVID-19 enforced break, sitting in fifth spot with a 4-3 record. With two of those matches decided by a couple of goals, they could quite easily have been sitting higher.
Saints senior assistant coach Zammy Muhtari said they were happy with how things had played out so far.
“We’ve had a pretty good start,” he said. “We should have had one more win then we do.
“Two [close] games we lost are to teams that have played a lot of finals the last seven to eight years consistently.
“We’ve closed the gap from where we were in 2019, but we still have a lot of improvement to come.”
Muhtari said the group had been starting to hit its straps when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the season to halt for three weeks.
He said it was always going to take time for the group to gel together.
“We have had about 13 new players come into the side,” he said.
“It’s been about building and understanding how we are going to play and gel as a group.
“It always takes time with a new playing group and new coaching group. [Senior coach] Sam [Butler] got the job for 2020, but we didn’t get to play any games.”
Muhtari said while the break was frustrating, it had given players with niggling injuries the chance to recover. He said they had lost a couple of players including, Adem Asani, to season-ending injuries.
“As a club we wrap our arms around them,”he said “It’s sad for those guys who missed last year and are now missing another season.
“We’ll try and get them involved in match day roles.”
The Saints were due to play Werribee Districts after Star Weekly went to press.
Muhtari said the group had been keen to get back out on the field with the players having their eyes firmly on one goal.
“We are sitting in fifth spot and we are happy with that,” he said. “Everyones wants to play some finals.
“We haven’t played finals for eight years. It’s a long time and we’d like to get there sooner than later.”
