Tullamarine needs to regain its early-season form if it’s to be a premiership contender in the Essendon District Football League’s division 1.
While the Demons are still second on the ladder, they’ve lost two of their past three games, including against Taylors Lakes on Saturday.
Both losses were against teams they will likely face come finals time.
Demons coach Ash Manning said there were warning signs in the warm-up that it was going to be a tough day against Taylors Lakes.
“We did a cross-training session during the week and a lot of the boys said before the match they were feeling sore and we were worried they would injure themselves in the game,” he said.
Manning said a slow start cost his side and the 19-point loss, 12.13 (85) to 9.12 (66), had flattered it. “We didn’t start well and they’d kicked six goals before we had even scored,” he said. “They dominated us, controlled the ball and were too good. At one point it was 6.7 to three points and it should have been a 10-goal margin at half time.”
The Demons’ inability to score goals in the third quarter took the game out of their reach.
“The first 10 minutes of the quarter we couldn’t kick a goal despite having all the play,” Manning said.
“Taylors Lakes’ defence withstood the challenge then took the ball the length of the ground and kicked a goal. They got two more in the quarter and when someone told me we were only three goals down in the last quarter I didn’t believe it.”
Manning said no players were injured because of the soreness from the cross-training session, but the Demons were left short on the bench due to new injuries that occurred during the game.
“Daniel Mangan hurt his knee, captain Colin Laurie hurt his chest and Justin Marcy hurt his back. That’s our three best players. But that was no excuse for our effort”.
This week the Demons face Westmeadows, which lost to West Coburg 19.18 (132) to 7.6 (48) at the weekend.
