Tara Murray
There was a sense of relief for Tullamarine on Saturday as it finally returned to the winners list in Essendon District Football League division 1.
Having become accustomed to being up the top of the table in recent years, wins have been far and few for the Demons this year.
After a big few weeks, which has seen a change in president and coach, the Demons were able to sing the song on Saturday, after beating Glenroy.
Caretaker coach David Connell said it was nice to be able to have that winning feeling. Connell, who had been coach previously, took on the president role this year, but has since stood down.
The new committee asked him to step back into the coaching ranks for the rest of the season.
Connell said he was always planning to get back into coaching next year, but didn’t want it to be under these circumstances.
‘Relief is the best way to describe it,” Connell said.
“We were far from perfect but we hadn’t won for nine weeks. It was about controlling the controllables.
“The pressure, work rates and intensity. Those sort of things that we can control. We couldn’t question the guys for that.”
Connell said the first quarter was where they set up the match kicking three goals into the wind, while keeping Glenroy goalless.
The win, the Demons third of the season, moves them one clear of Westmeadows in the and two clear of Glenroy in the relegation battle.
Two teams will go down to division 2 at the end of the season.
With a match up against Westmeadows this week, it’s a big fortnight in the club’s season.
“We are under no illusion at all,” Connell said. “Last week and this week and what they mean for the club.
“We’ve paired back the expectations and stuff and kept it outcomes based. Keeping it process driven and that side of the game.
“It’s hard to ignore what the weekend meant and what this weekend means though.”
The Demons have been boosted with the return of several key players from injury in recent weeks after being hit hard.
Connell said it had been good to get them back but there were still plenty of challenges.
“We’ve got a lot back but we have to get the conditioning of the guys,” he said. “They’ve missed so much footy and it’s hard to get fitness into them at this stage of the year.
“With winter and it being wet and having some sore bodies. We started to do three sessions this week and have a recovery session.
“We’ve got the personnel back, it’s now about the conditioning.”
Connell said while there had been some big matches between Tullamarine and Westmeadows in the last 10 years, he can’t remember one that means as much as this.
He said while this was an important stretch of the season, there’s still plenty of football to be played.
“I said to the guys after Saturday’s game, the plan wasn’t for me to come back for two games and then put the cue in the rack,” he said.
“We’ve got six games left. There’s other games in the run home that we think we can be competitive and have the ability to win.
“I don’t think our list is a bottom two list.”
