North Footscray’s David Hammersley attempts to spoil St Albans’ Craig Brown. 82235 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By MICHAEL ESPOSITO
ST ALBANS claimed its second win of the season with a tenacious 16-point win against North Footscray in the eighth round of the Western Region Football League on Saturday.
The Saints started brilliantly and kicked nine goals to three in the first quarter, but the Devils cut the margin to a goal in the second quarter, and stuck with the Saints until the final whistle.
But St Albans hung on for an 18.20 (128) to 17.10 (112) victory.
For Saints coach Ian Denny, the victory was a well-deserved reward for his side’s resilience and massive improvement in the past three weeks.
While the beleaguered Saints lost the previous two games before Saturday, there were positive signs.
They came far closer than any other team to defeating Spotswood, going down by just eight points, and lost a shoot-out by 29-points to Hoppers Crossing, a top three contender.
It seems the Saints have got over their disastrous start, where they lost their first four games by an average of 74 points.
Denny said the team was slowly coming together after losing several important players before the start of the year.
“There’s a bit more belief. I think people were still worried about what is happening as far as loss of players, instead of thinking about getting on with the job. Now, there’s a realisation that they have to worry about getting on with the job,” he said. It’s a lot easier to coach them when they’ve got that mindset. “We’ve had six under 18s play their first game of (senior) footy this year.
“It’s good to blood all those young kids, but even some of the other younger players who are 18, 19 and 20, we’re still developing those players, so it takes a while, but they seem to be getting it together now.
“We seem to be playing great footy in patches, one quarter against Hoppers Crossing where we kicked 11 goals, the first quarter yesterday we kicked nine goals. Even against Spotswood the week before, we kicked 1.9 in the first quarter.”
St Albans, led by double Barry Priest medallist Tim Jenkins who has rediscovered his form, had 11 more scoring shots than North Footscray, and Denny said the high behind count was a symptom of young legs getting tired.
“We had four shots on goal in the last quarter at crucial times, and about three of them didn’t make the distance. North Footscray had some stronger bodies, and they actually converted very well.”
Denny said inconsistent performances would have to be expected as young players continue to develop, but believed the side had the makings of a formidable unit.
“The club lost a lot of players, but would they win us a first division flag? Probably not. Some of them certainly would be handy players to still have, but we’re starting to develop the list now, and hopefully, if we can pick up a few more next season and some of those players come back, who knows what could happen.”
