Tara Murray
Point Cook Centrals got some reward for hard work with its third win of the Western Football League division 1 season on Saturday.
It’s been a tough season for the Sharks this year, with a number of long term injuries really hurting their depth.
On Saturday, that meant little as the Sharks accounted for Spotswood, 7.10 (52)-4.11 (35).
Coach Dean Chambers was pretty excited to get another win on the board.
“It’s a reward for effort,” he said. “It’s been a tough few weeks with injuries.
“We changed up our game plan this week and it worked. We tweaked a few things and to keep Spotty to four goals, it was real team defence.
“They were coming off a big win the week before and we were up for it and to win away from home was nice.”
Chambers said they were missing about 10 of their normal side through injuries, as they have for much of the year.
He said they’ve had to play the kids the last seven weeks and they are starting to grow in confidence.
“They’re learning to play together,” he said.
On Saturday, the Sharks led throughout against the Woodsmen. They kicked early goals and were able to hold a solid lead all day.
“I thought it was a tough contest all day,” Chambers said. “It was a contested footy, a crash and bash sort of game.
“We had a willingness to win the ball at stoppages and take our chances early in the game.
“We kicked the first four goals of the game and it set up the match.”
Daniel Strnak was the only multiple goal kicker for the Sharks, finishing with two.
Chambers said Kwar Ater, Lachlan Grant and Josh Gerolemou were their best.
He said youngsters Max Pritchard, Domenic De Lia and Jack Kenny were also good and have thrived with their opportunities.
Chambers said a win like that gives the group more confidence.
They still sit bottom but are still not out of the finals race.
Chambers said with no relegation the playing group can go out there and learn to play together without any pressure.
He said they were hopeful of getting a few numbers back the next few weeks and they got through unscathed on Saturday for the first time this season.
“The more they play together, the more they understand each other,” he said.
“We want to be competitive in the back part of the season. Our percentage isn’t the worst and you don’t normally see that from the bottom side.
“We have three wins and hopefully we can snag at least a couple more. If we can get some wins and other results go our way, finals are still alive.
“This gives us momentum and it’s such an even competition.”
In other matches, Point Cook lost to Caroline Springs and Hoppers Crossing and Parkside had a draw.
In division 2, Tarneit, the Suns and Wyndhamvale all suffered losses.
