By ADEM SARICAOGLU
EAST Keilor was less than a goal away from making another Essendon District Football League Division Two grand final in 2013.
The young and exuberant Cougars led by five goals going into the final term of their preliminary final battle against Moonee Valley.
But David Battistella’s men couldn’t penetrate into a strong wind at Tullamarine’s Leo Dineen Reserve, allowing five unanswered Moonee Valley goals to go down by three points.
The grand final between the Valley and Hillside, however, played out as expected, with the latter coming away with a comfortable 63-point win to earn promotion.
This time around, with no Hillside to worry about and nobody coming down from Division One, East Keilor will go into the 2014 season as a genuine favourite for the Division Two flag.
Battistella is well aware of the increased expectation placed on his Cougars for the upcoming season, and said he hoped to at least match the feats of 2013 later this year.
“You don’t want to go backwards as a football club, on the field or off the field,” Battistella said.
“There’s no doubt that our number one aim is to be playing off in that grand final.
“We want to keep moving forward and so to do that you’d be disappointed if you couldn’t at least get to the last two weeks.”
Battistella said there would be no major changes to the list he had at his disposal in 2013.
However, the Cougars are expecting to add a couple of new additions to the squad, with Josh Brennan (Western Australia) and Scott Eldridge (Craigieburn) listed as possible inclusions for the 2014 campaign.
Young gun forward Dion Hill, who is training with the Coburg Lions, is also one of a group of East Keilor players currently pursuing opportunities at TAC Cup and VFL level.
East Keilor will renew hostilities with Moonee Valley in round one of the new season on the first weekend of April.
