West Preston-Lakeside coach Rob Maiorana believes his side’s win over ladder-leader Macleod can build the foundation for a successful finals campaign in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1.
The Roosters kicked six goals to two in the final term to defeat Macleod by 16 points at De Winton Park and halt the Roos’ 12-game winning streak.
Maiorana felt the confidence created from the victory would be beneficial for the Roosters in their fight for a finals place.
“I think one thing it does is it instils belief in the group that we can match it with the best of the competition”, Maiorana told NFNL.org.au.
“Macleod has obviously been a standout all year and the pacesetter of the competition.
“I think it is going to be good for the belief for the boys and it will be something to build on for the rest of the season.”
West Preston-Lakeside trailed by nine points at the final change, but Maiorana was optimistic during the three-quarter time huddle, believing that continuing to play their brand of football would enable the Roosters to go on to win the contest.
“I thought we were still doing a lot of things right at three quarter time, but we didn’t take our opportunities in front of goal,” he said.
“I thought if we could start converting, which we did in the last quarter, it would help stay competitive.
“I still had confidence in the group that provided we played the way we wanted to play we would be a good chance in the last quarter.”
The Roosters depth has been tested over the course of the season with the likes of Mark Kovacevic, Alex Federico, Matthew Harman and Jaylon Thorpe continuing to shuffle in and out of the side due to VFL commitments.
However, Maiorana said has been happy with the even input of every player on the list so far this season.
“The good thing with our group this year is that we’re more even across the list, we don’t rely on one or two players, we’re getting a good contribution across the board which is great,” he said.
“Adam Valeri has been quite consistent, Jackson Clarke has been pretty good as well as James Tadd and Carl Adams, who have also been good.
“They’re guys that have been playing at a consistently good level week in week out. We know what we are going to get from them every week so that’s pleasing. It makes it easier to coach.”
West Preston-Lakeside has been one of the highest scoring teams in 2018 – averaging 97.36 points a game and has the second-highest percentage in the league, despite sitting in fourth place.
One of the catalysts has again been 2017 leading goal kicker Ahmed Saad, who has kicked 41 majors from just nine games this season. Saad returned for the Roosters victory on Saturday and booted five goals to be one of the most influential players on the ground.
Maiorana has again been impressed by Saad’s on-field excellence but is also satisfied with the side’s ability to score heavily even when the forward hasn’t been playing – exemplified by the 26-goal haul against Hurstbridge in Round 13 when Saad was sidelined.
“It is great having him in the side, he’s a match winner,” Maiorana said.
“However, we don’t want to be one dimensional and just rely on Ahmed. I think we fell into the trap of doing that last year.
“So, this year the focus has changed, and we get more contribution from the players around him.
“But as we saw on the weekend he can turn it on and score quickly in a short amount of time and in that last quarter he was probably the one that could hit the scoreboard and give us a spark.”
West Preston-Lakeside hosts Northcote Park this weekend, ahead of a trip to Montmorency. It then rounds out the season with home games against Whittlesea and Greensborough. Three wins from those matches could potentially secure a double chance in the finals.
However, Maiorana refused to look too far ahead.
“One thing I have learned this year is that there’s no real easy games. It is a fairly even competition,” he said.
“Each week it is a challenge, but we need to get over Northcote Park first and foremost.
“Everyone has a lot to play for, which will make for an exciting end to the season. We just need to back up our win on the weekend with a strong week this week and probably not look any further than that right now.”
