By Tara Murray
Tullamarine feels its heading in the right direction even if the results don’t show in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Steve McNamara Shield.
The Demons only win this season has come after Maribyrnong Park St Mary’s had points stripped and are at the bottom of the table.
Captain-coach Peter Labbad knew coming into the season that it would likely be a tough season.
“We’ve got a lot of old boys who won three or four flags in the twos and have gone up,” he said. “I was captain-coach 20 years ago. We’re only doing this so we can make sure we can get some experience into the young ones.”
Labbad said while the results don’t show it, they had shown some really good signs and opposition clubs were noticing it.
He said it was a lack of experience that was costing them in crucial moments with some of their younger players.
“We’re throwing our wickets away,” he said. “We’ve got a good list and I think we could be between fourth and sixth on the ladder.
“We make the best looking 10 to 15 runs. We need to bat all day and push the ball around a bit.
“We need a bit more experience. Not a lot of them have played two-day cricket before.”
Labbad said for the club the next couple of years it was about making sure they were still playing Saturday cricket and having somewhere for the juniors to play.
He has already signed on as captain-coach for next season and said they would look to bring in a few more players to add some more support.
“My son who is 13 has played in the ones,” he said. “There’s another three under-14s in the twos and about four or five in the threes.
“They all play in the under-14s on Friday nights and are on top of the ladder and playing some good cricket.
“We’re stoked to see them playing in the firsts, seconds and thirds. We want to keep the kids at the club.
“Hopefully we can help them for a couple more years and then we can go back to the twos with things in good order.”
The Demons resume their season on Saturday, as they face Grand United in a two-dayer.
Labbad said they would like to get a couple of wins on the board in the back part of the season and avoid relegation.
