Centrals see their potential
While they can enjoy the week off, the Seagulls soon face teams above them on the ladder — Geelong Amateur and Geelong West Giants — in the closing two rounds.
It is a test the newly appointed Bacely says will be a good measuring stick for his side heading into finals.
“It’ll be a very testing two weeks, but it’ll let us know where we’re at really, and obviously playing those two teams will help because I’m only about five weeks into this … but you learn pretty quickly I suppose,” he said. WERRIBEE Centrals coach Nick Smith believes the past fortnight could set up his side’s season after the Centurions claimed their second scalp on the trot.
Having knocked off Winchelsea last weekend in what was then described as their best win of the year, Centrals stunned Bannockburn by 32 points at Victoria Park on Saturday.
Smith said the past two wins would fuel confidence in his players, hammering home a belief that they could compete with the GDFL’s best as they seek to return to finals for the first time since 2013.
“It’s funny because I believed it, but as you know you are only the coach. But once the group gets hold of that, it’s pretty special, and that’s what they’ve shown over the past two weeks,” Smith said.
“They’ve bought into what we are trying to do. They’ve committed to our game style and game plan and they’ve played some fantastic footy.”
Smith said Saturday’s win meant the club should now believe a top-three finish was possible.
“We have spoken about that (top three),” Smith said.
“All year we have been in that fight for fifth, but these last couple of wins now actually put us in the mix for the top three, especially with Winch losing, which I didn’t expect.
“That really does put us in the hunt. We are rapt, because we are also playing good footy.
“Sometimes you can be winning but not necessarily ticking all the boxes. But those last couple of games have been as close to the type of footy we want to play as I could ask for.”