HAVING won its past three games in succession, Macleod has moved into third place on the Division 1 ladder and is a strong chance to play finals in the top flight for the first time since 1972.
NFL media manager Samuel Zito chatted with Roos’ coach Garry Ramsay following his side’s runaway victory over previous ladder-leader Greensborough.
SAMUEL ZITO: You’ve come from behind to beat two good sides in Greensborough and Montmorency in succession. You’re thoughts on the wins?
GARRY RAMSAY: The ladder is so even that if we’d lost the past two games we’d be sitting in seventh. You win them and you’re sitting in third. In both games at one stage we looked like being blown out of the water. It’s a really even competition and it’s good to get those two wins.
SZ: There a real resilience within the side to win games even when you fall behind. Is it a factor of superior fitness or does it come down to a stronger mentality?
GR: It’s probably both. Over the past month our fitness coach Justin Witcher done a great job and the boys have had a really good month of training. Everyone has made some sacrifices, even on the weekends, to get themselves physically right. The mental side of things will come with that as well. You probably can’t run out last quarters if you’re not fit. There’s been a bit of a change in mind shift from the whole group. They’re really starting to look after themselves away from the footy club as well.
SZ: You kicked 10 goals in a row against top side Greensborough at the weekend. Is there a belief now that when you bring your A-game you’re as good as any side in Division 1?
GR: While it’s a positive, it’s probably also a negative. Our bad is really bad and worse than the other top sides, but our good is really good. When we’re going badly I need to get our level higher and get a better level of consistency in them. I’m tired in games of getting real highs but real lows. It’s one thing to believe you can win from anywhere, but when we do have bad patches we are getting scored against heavily. It’s something we have to work on that we have to start wiping out our bad patches and be able to limit our opposition when they have the momentum, which we’re not doing at the moment.
SZ: You had some key players missing against the Boro, without Cathal Corr, Hayden Seivers and then Nick Lynch coming off injured. Were you pleased with the way some underrated players stood up in the second half?
GR: That was the focus before the game. We are missing some key players, as all sides are at this stage so you don’t want to use it as an excuse. But I said to the boys that Greensborough’s strength is they’re so even where their 22nd player contributes well. It was probably our bottom bracket which had to improve yesterday because I believe our top bracket is as good as Greensborough’s. It’s the bottom bracket where Greensborough usually gets over the line against opposition because they are very even. I felt I got a really good response from the bottom six or eight on Saturday.
SZ: Your midfield is really becoming one of the leading midfields in the competition. You can really build a strong team around those players.
GR: Definitely. A guy like Scooter (Justin White) has always been a star, but Hamish Paynter has improved massively in the year and a half I have been there. John Andrew has really stepped up this year and has probably been our most improved player this year. He’s really stepped it up and for an older fella is playing really well.
SZ: You’re sitting in third place at 8-5, half a game clear of fourth. What have you made of the first 13 rounds?
GR: Our goal at the start of the year was to win more games than we lose. We’re on track and that remains our goal. The minute we get to 10 wins we will probably sit down as a group and work out where we go from there. Our goal hasn’t changed, we want to get to 10 wins and we want to get there as quickly as possible. That will be the first goal achieved and then we will refocus and determine where we want to go next.
SZ: It’s obviously a big five weeks coming up for the club as finals begin to beckon.
GR: I think all the games from now are eight-point games. You not only get four points yourself, but you also stop a side around you getting four points. It’s going to be a really interesting five weeks of football. It’s nice to be at this stage, where in the past it’s usually been talking about avoiding relegation to motivate the players or keep them interested. This time it’s a chance to achieve a spot in the Division 1 finals, where I don’t think the club has done that in a long, long time. There are some really big things to achieve for this group and at the moment they are ticking off some really good achievements.
SZ: It’s big test against fourth-placed West Preston-Lakeside coming up this week. You blew them away after half time back in Round 9, but 10-goal hero Nick Lynch may miss the return match.
GR: I think we’re going to have a fair bit different personal this time around than five rounds ago and they probably will as well. While you can take confidence away from that win, they did beat us last year at Macleod so they don’t mind playing at the ground. It’s another 50-50 game and hopefully I can get a level of consistency from everyone which I probably haven’t had. Throughout the year our consistency has been poor so we’re looking for that level of consistency. You can’t expect to play one good half of footy and win every week.
