By Tara Murray
Greenvale has grabbed a much-needed win in Essendon District Football League premier division.
After dropping four of their past five games, the Jets were in danger of slipping out of the top four.
But on Saturday they rediscovered some of their early season form by beating Essendon Doutta Stars 16.12 (108)-4.12 (36).
Jets coach Paul Chapman said they were able to put it together for four full quarters – something they hadn’t achieved in recent weeks.
“We were struggling there for a little bit,” he said.
“We had injuries to six or seven starting players and that hurt us … in patches, we played some pretty good footy, but struggled to put it on the scoreboard. We were in games.
“This week we got back to playing our brand of footy.”
The Jets made the most of a favourable breeze to open up a 36-point lead by quarter time.
While the Stars reduced the margin in the second quarter, the Jets were still in control.
In the second half, they ran away with the game.
“We controlled the game in the midfield,” Chapman said.
Jacob Thompson kicked four goals up forward for the Jets.
Chapman said the most pleasing thing was the performance of some of the least inexperienced players in what was a solid team effort.
“Alex Elisseou, in his second game, did a good job on [Jordan] Schroder,” Chapman said. “Dylan Aridas and Riley Houston were good up forward and Nathan Babic had a good game on the wing. They are four of our younger players with the least experience.”
The win keeps the Jets in the top four.
Chapman said ensuring the side had a good start to the season was proving valuable, as it remains in finals contention despite a recent tough period.
“You can get a buffer and afford to drop a couple of matches,” he said. “We’re still in the danger zone – you have to keep winning.”
Chapman said he was hopeful that the Jets would start getting back some of their injured stars back in the next few weeks.
Tom Clearly, Fort Caruso and Courtenay Dempsey returned at the weekend.
Among those still out are Nick Maric, Aaron Mansfield, Natale Caruso, David Sardo and Josh Smith.
“The next three weeks we should get those guys back,” he said. “Hopefully, we will get our strongest team back. The young guys are putting pressure on the way we want.”
Greenvale faces a big test this weekend in the form of Aberfeldie.
