THOMASTOWN coach Dean Sinclair says his club is reaping the benefits of a solid pre-season after winning its opening three matches in its return to Division 2.
Returning to second division after claiming last year’s Division 3 premiership, the Bears have taken the competition by storm to sit first on the ladder after three rounds.
Sinclair’s men claimed the prized scalp of 2014 grand finalist Fitzroy Stars on Saturday, holding off a late charge to claim a seven-point win. It followed wins over Diamond Creek and Panton Hill in the opening two rounds of the year.
Lalor’s draw at Diamond Creek ensured Thomastown jumped to the top of the ladder, with a two-point gap on their nearest rival.
“There’s a fantastic vibe around the whole club at the moment,” Sinclair told NFL.org.au.
“The committee has worked hard off the field and the players have worked extremely hard over pre-season and that’s why results have come our way in the first three weeks.
“We are very happy and very excited at the moment. Obviously coming up from third division our main objective was to be competitive and to make sure we could hold our own ground in second division.
“It’s well above any expectations. I watched the Division 2 finals at the end of last year and I could see that, even though we were playing some good footy in Division 3 last year, I could there was a big gap that we had to make up. Obviously we have recruited quite well and we’ve been able to start the season in great form.”
The most attacking side in Division 3 last year, Sinclair said his club had worked hard on its defence to ensure it remained competitive in its leap into second division.
The Bears have conceded an average of just 70 points a game over the opening three weeks of 2015 and managed to keep a potent Fitzroy Stars attack to less than 100 points at the weekend.
“Last year in third division we played a pretty free-flowing and attacking style of footy,” Sinclair said.
“We probably couldn’t play that sort of footy this year or we would have been hurt on the rebound. We’ve worked on our defensive game over pre-season and then worked hard on it over the first three weeks of the season.
“Our back six is pretty much the same back six as last year with Adrian Lesar, Luke Fellows and Andrew Lozanovski and they’ve all held their own coming up into second division.”
Despite Thomastown’s strong start to the year, Sinclair happily played down any suggestions that his side could be serious threat for this year’s premiership.
“Our objective still is just to come up against everyone every week and be competitive every week,” he said.
“I know supporters start talking about finals but from a playing point of view and a coaching point of view, and it’s an old cliché, but we’re just taking it one week at a time.
“We understand that it took six wins to stay up in second division last year. We’re halfway there but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Thomastown’s next assignment is a trip to the Whittlesea to take on an Eagles outfit which has returned from Division 1 and just come off a 97-point thrashing of rival Mernda.
Sinclair said his side would have to be at its best to improve its record to 4-0.
“Confidence is an amazing thing and it’s something we’ve got at the moment. At the same time, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves and we know that every game is going to be a competitive game in Division 2 this year,” he said.
“We’re going to have to be at our best against Whittlesea who had a good win (last week) and coming down from first division, they’re obviously a pretty good outfit. It’s a challenge every week and it’s a challenge we’ll look forward to every week.”
(Photo credit: Mark Wilson)
