Tara Murray
Tullamarine produced its most complete performance of the Essendon District Football League division 1 season against Roxburgh Park and it paid off.
The Demons, while having only lost one match so far, hadn’t played consistent football for the most part of the season.
On Saturday that changed against the Magpies.
The Demons were in control early on, but weren’t able to convert that on the scoreboard. They managed to continue to increase the lead throughout despite being challenged in the third quarter.
An eight goal final quarter was the icing on the cake in the 17.12 (114)-5.8 (38) win.
Demons co-coach David Connell said they were thrilled with that performance.
“We’re pretty happy with that,” he said. “It’s our most complete performance so far.
“To be honest even at 5-0 we were playing average and still winning games of football.
“If Shaun McKernan hadn’t played in a couple of those games, it would have been a different story.
“That’s not our DNA and we have been going away from what we want to do.”
Connell said they had challenged the group to step up and show progress each week, which he didn’t think they had been doing.
They also changed their tact with selection.
“We have a pretty talented squad,” he said. “We were picking guys on being the best 22 players, not the 22 we needed to look like.
“Guys coming into the side the last couple of weeks might not be in the best 22, but it’s changed our balance.
“We’ve gone a bit smaller and our pressure has been a lot different.”
Connell said they had shown signs against Craigieburn the week before that they were on the right track.
He said on Saturday they had the game on their terms and were able to respond in the third quarter when challenged.”
Shaun McKernan kicked five goals for the Demons to continue his good run of form. He now has 32 goals for the season
Connell said the usual suspects in the midfield did a good job, but it was a couple of lesser likes that impressed him.
Matthew Jones has taken his game to another level, while Dylan Watts who has come through the juniors continues to grow.
Brad Allen kicked four goals on his return after being dropped the previous round. He kicked 10 in the reserves to earn back his spot.
Connell said they had the luxury to drop players down to work on things.
“Brad’s pressure around the ball was a lot better,” he said.
“The twos are on top and we have plenty of depth. Guys are going back to the twos to work on things”.
The Demons this week face Westmeadows, which sits fourth. It’s the last of the first match ups between the sides.
The Tigers enter the match on the back of an 18.12 (120)-11.4 (70) win against Craigieburn.
The Tigers started slowly, held goal less in the first quarter, before working their way into the game.
Mohammed Yassine and George Nabbout kicked four goals each.
