IT had been 700 days since Whittlesea had last tasted victory in Division 1.
From Round 13, 2014, when the Eagles cruised to a 37-point win over West Preston-Lakeside on July 19, until Round 9, 2016 when the club broke its duck against Northcote Park on June 18 – it had been a long time between drinks for the Eagles.
Some 100 weeks later, and not only has Whittlesea broken its Division 1 hoodoo, but it has recorded back-to-back victories against much-fancied opponents, defeating finals-aspirant Bundoora by 28 points last weekend.
Whittlesea senior coach James Atkins has seen the trials and tribulations of his group this season, but believes the internal belief within the club never wavered.
“We always knew we could compete and win games of footy,” Atkins told NFL.org.au.
“I don’t think the belief has never not been there, throughout the whole year.
“We always believed that we could win games of footy, it was just about getting the result. We’d beaten a lot of teams in quarters – we just had to play four quarters to get the result.
“Sticking to the game-plan is paying dividends at the moment.”
Sitting 0-8, anchored to the bottom of the Division 1 ladder after two-point losses to both West Preston-Lakeside in Round 1 and Bundoora in Round 5 had Atkins asking questions.
On top of two single-figure losses to quality opposition, Whittlesea had also been in winning positions in a number of matches.
It gave the still undefeated ladder-leader Heidelberg a scare, trailing by 11 points at three-quarter-time in Round 2, held a five-point lead over Lower Plenty at three-quarter time in Round 3 and a three-point lead over Greensborough at the final change in Round 6.
“You could imagine what it would’ve been like,” Atkins said.
“We knew that we weren’t that far off but when you’re zip and eight, you start questioning what you’re doing.
“You could tell that we weren’t far away and we knew that if we had a four-quarter effort we were going to get the results.
“We’ve just got to do it (consistently) throughout a whole season and it’s a lot of hard work to stay up.”
Atkins’ message to his side after being so close, yet so far to breaking its duck a number of times was simple – not if, but when.
Despite recording heavy losses to reigning premier Macleod in Round 7 (96 points) and Montmorency in Round 8 (44 points), the next two weeks’ winning results would be in complete contrast, but the positive attitude would remain the same.
“The two weeks before we won our last two games we had our poorest two weeks of the year,” Atkins said.
“We just needed to keep that positive attitude (around the club) and let everyone know that we’re not far away.”
Former Brisbane and Western Bulldogs player Justin Sherman, who played 138 AFL games from 2005-2012, has had an immediate impact this season in a playing-assistant coaching role, according to Atkins.
“His leadership’s been fantastic,” he said.
“He’s a playing assistant coach, so his leadership there’s very good and he’s very good with the young guys.
“He helps out the young blokes a lot and talks about what he’s done and what he’s achieved, and what they need to do to reach those levels and professionalism.
“He’s a good people person and spends a lot of time with individuals. His football over the last couple of weeks has been fantastic as well.”
Whittlesea travels to Eltham Central Park this week where it takes on the seventh-placed Panthers.
The sides last met in Round 4 with Eltham prevailing by 19 points.
Atkins believes his side’s confidence from the last fortnight will hold it in good stead in the return bout this weekend.
“We’re just taking it one week at a time, we just need to keep making sure we keep putting our best foot forward. If we play four quarters of footy, the results will look after themselves,” he said.
“We think we’re a shot and so we should – we’re playing some good footy at the moment.
“That winning feeling is a magical thing. It’s a lot easier to get to footy training and train and be up and about after a couple of wins and I’d assume that’s going to be the same this week.”
