Season-defining game awaits
Apotentially season-defining match looms in this weekend’s Horsham District league senior football.
Kalkee, sitting in ninth position after a 2022 grand final appearance, will visit North Park, Stawell, to take on the sixth-placed Swifts.
Baggies coach Brett Hargreaves said the last month of football had been a mixed bag for his team.
“We have had a couple of good wins against Natimuk and Pimpinio, but playing four quarters has been an issue,” he said.
He said last week’s three-point loss to Edenhope-apsley was a learning opportunity at this point of the season.
“We took more positives away than negatives,” he said.
“We nearly stole it at the end, but we didn’t quite get there.”
Hargreaves said defenders Joseph Martin and Paul Enriquez had stood out in recent weeks, along with the rest of the backline.
He said the efforts of defence players had been clear in their ability to stop the opposition scoring.
“They’ve really stood up in some pivotal moments,” he said.
Hargreaves said he was not letting the early season form of Kalkee dictate his preparations too much.
He said the round eight match was important in both the short and long term. “You’re looking to the present and the future,” he said.
Hargreaves said his side was hoping to not only repeat last year’s finals appearance but to win a few games come August.
Kalkee coach Doug Grining admitted his side had a difficult start to its 2023 campaign.
“The season so far has been a real test. We have had a few injuries early on to key players, which isn’t ideal,” he said.
“It’s also been great to play some fresh faces — especially the younger players who are being fasttracked into senior football.”
Grining said watching the development of younger players was one positive that came from an inconsistent performance against Noradjuha-quantong last week.
“In patches, we looked excellent, but a few errors during the game let us down and gave them easy opportunities.”
Grining is hoping his team puts the 20-point loss behind them as they prepare to face Swifts.
“To prepare for Swifts, it’s like any other week,” he said.
“We will continue to work on ourselves, our structures, set-ups and ball movement.
“We know the Swifts will bring their ‘A’ game; it’s up to us to do the same.”