Tara Murray
Consistency is the key for Thomastown to take its game to the next level in the Northern Football League division 2 this season.
A win on Saturday resulted in the Bears levelling the ledger at 3-3 after the first six rounds.
Coach Peter Bugden said the ladder reflected how their season has been so far.
“It was an important win for us,” he said,
“We are 3-3 but have been very inconsistent. We are making a lot of ground in a lot of areas, but we need to apply our best football consistently, week to week.
“When we are good, we are really good. When we’re ordinary, we’re ordinary for three quarters.”
Bugden said while some of the inconsistency was getting the mix right as a group, it’s also the players making sure they put the hard work in.
He said they’ve got a lot of good coaches who provide both positive and negative feedback, but it’s about building that two-way relationship between them.”
On Saturday, the Bears had a pretty solid performance against Lower Plenty.
In the battle of the Bears, it was Thomastown that jumped out of the blocks in the first quarter with 15 scoring shots to four and were able to build the next two quarters.
Lower Plenty won the final quarter, but the damage had been done with Thomastown winning 16.22 (118)-10.4 (64).
Bugden said it was a good team performance.
“I think we started really well,” he said. “We knew they are a side that is rebuilding.
“I suppose at the end of the day it was more about consistent effort and more a team performance, which we got a tick in that area.”
Anthony Capeci kicked four goals for Thomastown, while Bill Samie kicked three goals.
Bugden said James Rizzollo, Anthony Bradford, Michael Tang, Adrian Natoll, and Capeci were some of the better players.
“When you have a good spread of contributors like we did it gives you a good chance to win,” he said.”
Thomastown now sits fifth on the ladder. This Saturday they face Panton Hill which is on the same record.
Bugden said they just needed to be consistent in the effort and application and if they’re good enough the results will come their way.
In other results, South Morang got its fourth win of the season with victory against Watsonia.
The Lions took the lead in the first quarter but were never able to blow the Saints away.
They did just enough to get a 15.12 (102)-12.14 (86) win.
Gary Moorcroft kicked seven for South Morang, while Joshua D’Intinosante kicked five goals in a best on ground performance.
Epping remains without a win, after a loss to Northcote Park. Northcote Park started well and was able to build throughout on the way to a 14.12 (96)-4.7 (31) win.
Luke Lirosi kicked three goals for the Pingers and was named their best.
In division 1, Bundoora and Whittlesea both suffered losses to Greensborough and West Preston-Lakeside respectively.
