Eagles coach happy with form

A CRUNCH victory over North Shore seven days ago kept Newtown & Chilwell’s finals hopes alive.

But coach Damien McMahon said the 17-point loss to Leopold the week before had given his side just as much confidence it was playing competitive football.

“I don’t know about (the North Shore win being) the turning point — we’ve been playing some pretty consistent football up against some pretty good teams,” McMahon said.

“We probably thought we didn’t play as well last week as we did the week before, but it was pleasing to have the win, that’s for sure.”

McMahon credited both his senior and less-experienced players for rising to the challenge.

“We think probably a good mix at the moment. Some of our senior players are playing fantastic football and are in really good form. Guys like David Fanning and Matt McMahon are playing consistently well,” he said.

“And then we’ve got young players like Alex Cincotta playing really good footy and Mitch Diamond probably playing the best they’ve play so far this year.

“They’re now seven or eight games into the season and starting to gain a bit of form, so they’re the positives — they’re playing their first year of senior footy. Lockey McCartney (is) another one that’s stringing some games together and really finding their feet at GFL level.”

The Eagles should go about their business against Lara today, ahead of big games against St Mary’s and Bell Park, but McMahon will not look too far ahead.

“We’re looking really no further than Lara, knowing that’s our next most important game and if we can win that it will put us 4-4 and opens the season up for us a little bit potentially,” he said.