By Tara Murray
The momentum is starting to grow for Mernda in the Northern Football League division 3 competition.
After a slow start, the Demons have now won three straight games including beating Kilmore on Saturday.
Coach Robert Fletcher said they knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight for them.
“Three in a row now, which has been nice,” he said. “We’ve had a few new players and we’ve been trying to gel.
“We had a few players out to start the year like a lot of clubs. We’ve started to get some players back and we thought we would be slow starting.
“As the season goes along we will start to find our best form. At the end of the day we were realistic where we would be.”
Fletcher said Saturday’s game against Kilmore was a hard fought one in tough conditions at Mernda.
The Demons led at quarter time by 22 points before scores were level at half time. The Demons managed to get the lead back out and were able to do enough in the final quarter to win, 9.14 (68)-7.8 (50).
Fletcher said there was a three to four goal breeze towards round one.
“We did well in the first quarter but kicked 3.9 in the third quarter, so not so well,” he said.
“It was bad kicking and they aren’t a bad side and I think they will play finals.”
Fletcher said they thought the 21 point lead at three quarter was enough, but they were focused on making sure of the win.
“The message was to make sure that we could not go defensive,” he said. “They kicked the first goal and then we kicked the next to settle it.”
Matthew Bawden and Christian Evans kicked two goals for the Demons.
Fletcher said Billy Morrison was clearly best on ground.
He said it was so nice to see Morrison back out on the field after a couple of tough years with injury.
“He was back to his best,” he said. “He took nine marks in the final quarter and set the game and tempo.
“I coached him at other clubs and haven’t seen him like that. He’s now under 100 kilograms and lost 35-36 kilograms.
“He’s getting used to his body and seeing what he can do.”
Jake Mazzarella and Christian Evans were other standouts according to Fletcher.
The win moves the Demons to 3-3 and in eighth spot, percentage behind Kilmore in fourth.
The Demons face Reservoir which had the bye on the weekend.
Fletcher said it would be a good contest.
In other matches on Saturday, Lalor got its first win of the season as it beat Old Eltham Collegians, Laurimar beat Heidelberg West and Epping was too strong for Ivanhoe.
