Eagles not getting ahead of themselves

Gene Vocale. (Ljubica Vrankovic)

Craigieburn Eagles aren’t getting ahead of themselves in the Big V men’s division 2 competition.

After finishing second bottom last season, the Eagles sit top after nine rounds.

Coach Tim Annett said they were happy with how things had gone so far.

“We’ve definitely started really well, but we haven’t achieved anything yet,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ll set ourselves up for the back half of the year.”

While they have a fairly new side, Annett said they had made an effort to bring in players who knew each other to make the transition easier.

He said everyone was buying into what they were wanting to do.

“We tried to get guys that know each other and are here for the right reasons,” Annett said. “We’ve had some success and the attitude of the team is there.

“A big selling point of mine when I took over the role was to have 14 guys all here for the one reason which we’ve definitely done so far.”

Annett said their game style focused on a team balance which was reflected in the statistics.

They don’t have a player in the top 10 points per game despite sitting top.

“We have five guys who are averaging double figures,” he said. “There’s a lot of sharing the ball and everyone is working hard defensively.”

Annett said there was some excitement returning to the club with their results, but the group themselves were staying level headed.

“We haven’t achieved anything,” he said. “We know there’s a lot of improvement and hard work to come before the end of the season.

“A lot can change between now and the end of the season.”

Speaking before the weekend’s games, Annett said they had a couple of tough weeks before the King’s Birthday break.

He said this period would be their biggest test so far this season.

“We have a double header this week,” he said. “We play Wallan, who are a dangerous team and the Surf Coast is the only team that has defeated us this year.

“We then play an impressive team in Melton.

“We want to try and improve in areas that we have weaknesses and hopefully the scoreboard will look after itself.