Feeling the Power
Newcomb win builds belief in battle to beat the drop
NOT only has Newcomb kept its BFL survival hopes alive with a crushing win over Portarlington, coach Rory Nicol believes his club has the potential to play BFL finals in 2019.
But despite Saturday’s thumping win, eighth-placed Drysdale did no favours for the Power, upsetting Ocean Grove in a gutsy performance to keep Nicol’s men in the bottom two on percentage.
It sets up yet another defining clash for the Power this Saturday, this time against the Hawks, but Nicol won’t treat this week any different.
“My mail is (Drysdale was) really positive and confident they could beat Ocean Grove today, beat Newcomb next week and get out of relegation zone,” Nicol said.
“Every week we’re preparing to win a game of footy now. We’re not pencilling in victories; we want to be competitive week in, week out.
“The day might come that we pinch a win against a top-five side. But we’ll just focus on Drysdale this week and if we don’t get the job done, we’ll dust ourselves off and I think we’ve got Ocean Grove the week after.”
The was a real sense of pride in Nicol about how his side turned a seven-point quarter-time lead into a 79-point drubbing of Portarlington.
But so too was there a sense of relief for the third-year coach, who enjoyed hearing his players sing the old Dinos song after scrapping the Power anthem.
“When you go a long time between drinks without winning games of footy, you don’t doubt yourself but every now and then you need reassurance that you’re on the right track, as a football club, as a player and as a coach,” he said.
“It’s pleasing in that regard, because you do know you’re on the right track. But third year, we’re coming from a bloody long way back.
“Of course we’d like to be further ahead than we are, but I think the way I’ve recruited and the way I’m doing, our success will be sustainable.”
While the wins and losses will dictate where his side will play next season, Nicol said his side wasn’t far away from contending finals.
“I just went around and there are 22 players and two have played over 50 games,” he said.
“What an exciting prospect and I believe we can play Bellarine finals next year.
“It would be a bloody shame if we don’t win enough games to stay in the Bellarine because this group, from all indications, will stick together and I believe we’re only two or three players off playing Bellarine finals footy next year.
“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse — we’ve got to get enough wins this year — but I believe with another 20 games into these guys and a few bigger, more experienced players from the GFL or VFL, I think we can have a really exciting team.”