Lara’s little wins part of big picture

IF people believe we’ve lost hope at Lara, they couldn’t be more wrong.

I’m up and about. In fact, I’m actually more excited every week we play.

Little wins are getting us through, and while outsiders might look at the scores and see we’re getting beaten by big totals, those in the know are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Take Saturday’s game against Bell Park. We came out after halftime and in the first 15 to 20 minutes of the third quarter kicked two goals to their no score and held them goalless after they had kicked 20 goals in the first half.

For 20 minutes of football we outplayed them, played to the level that we know we can be capable of against a very good team that will play finals.

I was really happy with our football and our supporters were engaged in the game.

The guys showed they can do it; that’s the team message – we know they can do it; it’s getting them to trust themselves that they can do it.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re still a far way off the level we expect and know that it takes to be a presence in the GFL.

While we’ve shown we can produce 20-minute periods of good footy, we’re still working towards playing four quarters.

I was appointed coach at Lara on October 10, 2016, so it was a late appointment, and just 25 or 26 guys had signed on for the next year.

Immediately we were put on the back foot in the recruiting department and our depth has been tested this season. Only two weeks ago, we had to drag the barman out to play footy in the twos.

But we’re resourced enough to overcome the obstacles with our list next season.

I’ve taken interest in how Newcomb has gone about its rebuild in the BFL and seeing them win on the weekend was a boost for me.

They’re in a similar boat to us; they’re doing exactly what we’re trying to do, by sticking to our 18 or so Lara players and a few other guys in the region and getting games into them.

Despite being given a player points cap of 43 – three more than our rival clubs – we struggle to field any more than 35 in any one game.

Like all other clubs, we’ve got a number of ex-Lara players playing at other clubs that we’d love to get back to our club.

It’s been well documented what’s happened at our club, but we’re there with open arms because there are some good quality players at other clubs at the moment that would play GFL football with us.

It’s one of the benefits of the points system. Look at Jackson Sheringham at Bell Park. He’s a quality player and at just one point, it frees up the Dragons to bring in other recruits.

But the system also creates the opportunity, almost forces you, to play players that have come through your junior ranks and develop them into senior players.

If we can bring in four quality five-point players from outside the club next year, we can play 18 one-point players that we’ve developed through our junior program. That’s the goal.

Our club is already ticking a lot of boxes. We have a strong Colts side, our under16s and under-14s are in Division 1, we’ve got three under-12 sides and five under10 teams. We’ve also got a huge Auskick program and a strong junior girls program.

The wheel will turn. We’ve just got to keep having little wins.