Tara Murray
Hillside has ticked a lot of boxes in the opening three rounds of the Essendon District Football League division 1 season, but there’s still plenty of improvement to come.
The Sharks, who had the bye on the weekend, won their opening three matches against Keilor Park, Rupertswood and Craigieburn.
Coach Charlie Denaro said he was happy with how the start of the season had panned out.
“We are ticking a lot of boxes,” he said.
“We’ve changed a few things with the way that we play. We’re not at the level we want to play later in the year, but we’ve started well.”
Denaro said for the side the biggest thing is they don’t want to be one-dimensional in the forward line and relying too much on Josh Covelli.
Last season’s division 1 leading goalkicker, has still had his chances in the first three rounds, kicking 12 goals but the Sharks have found other avenues as well.
“It’s been about our ability to share the footy,” Denaro said.
“We didn’t want to be too reliant on Josh and we’re looking to share the inside 50s. Someone of Josh’s stature is always going to get goals, but having different sources out there is important.”
Denaro said the inclusion of recruit Ryan Lojko had been important for the forward line.
While he’s yet to hit the scoreboard in a big way, he’s been doing a lot of the hard work and providing a marking target at centre half forward.
Another change to the Sharks forward line has seen Bailey Ryan move into the midfield a bit more.
He has still kicked six goals for the season. Denaro said it was nice to have the option to throw Ryan forward if they need him too.
Early signs for all the Sharks recruits have been good. Denaro said they were all fitting in.
“It has been an easy transition for them coming from other clubs they have been at for a long time,” he said.
“They’re been outstanding in the way we do things. [Anthony] Prestia has been fantastic.
“Alessio Gobbo in the ruck has been good.”
Denaro said the week off had come at a good time and it gave them the chance to review the first few weeks and see where they can improve.
They face Roxburgh Park this week, a side that just missed finals last year. After a couple of close battles last season, Denaro said it would be a good test.
It will be one of a number of tests coming up for the Sharks.
“Deer Park, Tullamarine and West Coburg are still the benchmarks of the competition,” Denaro said.
“We’ll take the early wins and hopefully we’ll get some more wins under the belt.”
In division 1 matches that were scheduled for the weekend, St Albans were set to face Westmeadows and Deer Park was to play West Coburg, both after deadline.
