Spotswood’s Michael Cassidy tries to break away from Albion’s Brent Davies. 83162_11 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By MICHAEL ESPOSITO
WITH 10 wins from 10 games, Spotswood could not have asked to be in a better position going into the last half of the Western region Football League season, but does that mean the Woodsmen have an air of invincibility about them?
No coach would claim to have an invincible side, and Chris O’Keefe is no different. In fact, he listed three teams as Spotswood’s main threats – Altona, Hoppers Crossing and Port Melbourne, even though the injury-riddled Colts are yet to prove themselves against a top three side.
Perhaps this year more than any in Spotswood’s era of dominance, the Woodsmen have more than one main challenger to think about.
Sure, there was something special about the Port Melbourne rivalry, and then the Albion rivalry, but we may be seeing the start of another classic rivalry – one between Spotswood and Altona.
But O’Keefe has never been one to get ahead of himself. In fact he has never coveted top spot. Top three has always been the goal. He has always had supreme confidence in his side to perform in finals.
The Woodsmen do not have the minor premiership sewn up yet. They defeated a wasteful Altona by 27 points in Round 5, and the Vikings have improved since then. They edged out St Albans by eight points, and snuck past Hoppers Crossing by 14 points. Just on the weekend Spotswood defeated Albion by 32 points. The margin was 151 points in Round 1. The gap is closing.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start,” O’Keefe said.
“We’ve had a fair few injuries and we’ve brought in a lot of players. It’s a testament to our depth.”
Some of the casualties have included Lachie McGhie, Jai Audley, Torin Baker, Ben Pope, Christian Elliot, Tim Glasson and Jason Hucker.
But Spotswood has an uncanny ability to find players to slot right into senior roles.
Ahmed Souki has been a revelation as the No.1 backman while Mahmoud El-Hawli has been the perfect foil for power forward Jason Cloke, with 18 goals to his name.
O’Keefe was weary that other teams are hunting Spotswood, and he welcomed it.
“We realise that in some games it’s come down to the last quarter of footy,” he said.
“It could have easily gone the other way, but we’ll certainly take the four points.
“We want to be challenged because come finals time there’s no doubt we’ll be challenged. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, we know that ultimately it will come down to whoever’s better on the day.”
In other WRFL results, Altona smashed Port Melbourne by 64 points, Hoppers Crossing took care of NorthFootscray by 128 points, and in another one-sided result, Sunshine accounted for Sunshine Heights by 112 points.
