Lalor remains positive despite a season which hasn’t lived up to expectations in division 2 of the Northern Football League.
After going within four points of a flag last season, the Bloods were this year expected to be among the challengers.
They appeared to be on track when they won two of their first three matches, but then things started to go wrong.
“It’s been a bad year for us and we’ve been riddled with injuries,” Bloods president Rodney Lowry said.
“We haven’t been able to get a full side on the park and have had injury after injury. At times, from about round four or five, we’ve had 13 of last year’s side out injured.
“Nothing has gone right since our coach Steve Marshall broke his leg in round 1 [in the reserves].”
Despite being winless since round three, Lowry said it was not all doom and gloom.
With Reservoir not fielding a side this year, no side will be relegated come season’s end,
“Sometimes you just have a year like this, it’s footy,” Lowry said.
“We’ve had a real hard crack and you can get disheartened, but we know we’re a good side and are taking a positive attitude.”
Lowry said the club would soon start looking towards next year when it hoped to have an under-19 side in the competition.
On Saturday, the Bloods pushed top-two aspirant North Heidelberg for three quarters before falling short.
Despite missing eight of their best 22, the Bloods led at half-time and were within three goals at the last break. But they couldn’t get any closer and went down 16.7 (103)-11.11 (77).
Jarrod King kicked three goals for the Bloods and was one of the best.
Lowry said that sort of performance was what he wanted to see in the run home.
“We proved we can play some good football, despite missing eight players,” he said.
“Considering the side we had in, we couldn’t have been prouder.
“If we keep that attitude we could upset some sides in the run home.”
Meanwhile, Thomastown lost 17.19 (121)-5.12 (42) against Hurstbridge.
It was a tough day in division 1, with no team scoring more than 63 points.
Both Whittlesea and Bundoora struggled to hit the scoreboard in losses to Northcote Park and Greensborough respectively.
In division 3, South Morang kept the pressure on the top four with a massive 47 scoring shots in a 167-point win against Kilmore.
With top-four sides Epping, Watsonia and St Mary’s all winning, the Lions are still a game outside the top four ahead of a clash with fourth-placed St Mary’s.
