Tara Murray
Lalor is playing with a bit more flair and it’s starting to pay off in the Northern Football League division 3.
While the Bloods are still without a win, the margins in games are lessening and the Bloods are being competitive for longer.
Bloods coach Angelo Lamanna said they were starting to see some real signs of improvement.
“We’re miles in front from where we were this time last year both offensively and defensively,” he said.
“We’ve had a really good month besides last week. We lost to Fitzroy by a couple of points and against Eltham we were really competitive up until the last 20 minutes.
“We’ve been working on a different brand of footy, which is working.”
Lamanna said the playing group was slowly learning how to play with each other which had impacted the results.
He said they had also changed how they wanted to play as well.
“We’ve given them the opportunity to be more self-driven with our brand and use their flair,” he said.
“The guys are using their flair out there and playing with a little bit more of a natural style. It’s a bit more free range, while still sticking with the structures which has been good.”
Lamanna said despite not having a win on the board, the atmosphere continues to strong around the club and the players are buying into what they’re doing.
“We know we’re not winning games and it can get disheartening and you can start not liking footy,” he said.
“It’s gone the other way. The losses aren’t as bad and there’s plenty of things that the boys are doing well.
“We’re much better than last year, the hype is good.
“I guess looking at where the club is at, having not won a game in the last 18 months, it could have dropped.
“I’m rapt with these blokes.”
Lamanna said they were hoping the improvement they’ve had would lead to a win before the season is out.
The Bloods face Kinglake in Kinglake on Saturday, followed by a clash with second bottom side Reservoir the following week.
“We’ll keep working towards where we want to go, for us that would be winning a game,” he said.
“Kinglake is a good side, a big bodies side that is certainly a challenge for us.
“It’s a smaller ground and most of us have not played their before.
“It might work in our favour with the contested side of the game.”
