Sunshine forward Patrick Wiggins goes up for a mark. 81911_22 Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI Job name: WRFLsunshi
By MICHAEL ESPOSITO
SUNSHINE cemented itself in the top five with a gritty nine-point win against St Albans on Saturday.
The win meant the Kangaroos opened a two-game gap between them and three other sides – Deer Park, St Albans and Albion – to hold on to fifth spot.
Going with the wind, Sunshine got out to a 25-point lead in the first quarter, and weathered a St Albans fightback in the second quarter to be two goals up at the main break.
The Kangaroos did enough to scrap their way to a narrow in and halt St Albans’ three-game winning streak.
“It was a massive danger game and we were down on a bit of personnel, and they’re always tough to beat at their ground, so we’re pretty happy with the win,” Sunshine coach Brett Jacobs said.
“I thought we started slow, but once we got into it, we had a pretty good first quarter, got off to a nice little lead and I thought we showed a bit of character in the second quarter when they come back at us to stay in front at half-time.
“It was a scrappy type of game. There were a lot of turnovers from both sides so in the end it was an ugly win.”
Sunshine was somewhat wasteful going forward as evidenced by the scoreboard which read 8.20 (68) to 8.11 (59).
“We did miss a few shots we should have got, and we snapped a few shots under pressure when we could have got a handball out to somebody in a better position,” Jacobs said
“Had we lost with that inaccuracy I would have been pretty filthy but we got the win so I’ll just ride it out I think.”
Jacobs said the side could compete with the best in the competition if it had most of its best 22 on the park, but in recent weeks had been missing several players with sickness or overseas commitments.
“We’ve played some really good footy but we’ve had a couple of bad games. The Altona and Spotswood games were really poor, and that’s due to the quality of the opposition as well but every other game we’ve been in the game. Every other loss has been a narrow loss, where we’ve had one bad quarter or a few lapses that have let us down.”
If we can play four consistent quarters and get everybody on the park, I feel with can be competitive with just about anybody.
Jacobs said Luke Allen has stood up in the backline with more responsibility this year, while Danny Jacobs and Jake Trevaskis, and Tom Millar Sunshine’s three best players on Saturday, have also stood out as leaders of the club.
“Luke Allen was really good for us. For a young guy was hasn’t played footy in a while I thought he was really good in the pressure situations,” Jacobs said.
Sunshine has the ultimate test when it takes on Spotswood this Saturday.
“They’re the benchmark and where they are is where we all aspire to be.”
