By Tara Murray
Whittlesea is hoping for a bit of momentum and consistency after the Queen’s Birthday weekend bye in Northern Football League division 2.
Due to byes and competition-wide weekends off, the Eagles are yet to have a big run of games in a row.
Throw in a number of injuries, and it’s been a tough start for first year coach Blair Harvey.
Harvey said it had been a trying start to the season.
“We’ve been going OK,” he said.
“We’ve had heaps of injuries and we’ve been interrupted with byes.
“With all the injuries it’s been hard to build anything. After the bye we’ve got five or six games in a row.”
The injuries have opened the door for some of the Eagles younger players who are coming through.
With eight regular senior players out at the weekend, the Eagles fielded 16 players under 20 against Watsonia. Harvey said it was a positive sign for the future.
“It is pretty exciting and for the future of the club it’s looking good.
“As we are playing young men, they can be a bit up and down at times.”
That was the case on Saturday against Watsonia, in the 13.14 (92)-10.7 (67) win.
Looking at the scoreboard, it seemed there was a wind favouring one end, with 17 goals kicked at one end, but Harvey said it wasn’t the case.
“I don’t know what it was,” he said. “There was nothing major with the wind.
“We would look to break the game open and then with skill errors would let them back into the game.
“They scored seven goals from direct turnovers, that didn’t help.”
Nicholas Pupillo kicked four goals for the Eagles.
Harvey said Matthew Coen in the ruck and up forward, and Joshua Eid at half-back were the standouts. Despite all the interruptions, the Eagles sit fourth with a 4-2 record.
“We’re playing at 50 per cent, I reckon,” Harvey said. “If we can execute the game plan and cut out the errors, we will improve.”
Whittlesea and the rest of the competition have this week off due to the Queen’s Birthday weekend. They then face an undefeated Banyule. Harvey said they were hopeful of a number of players being fit to return to the side.
“It will be a big test for us,” he said.
“We’ll get a few players back and they are the best in the competition. We want to see where we are at.”
In other results, Thomastown fell just short of handing Banyule its first loss of the season.
Banyule just winning, 17.7 (109)-16.9 (105).
Epping fell just short against Fitzroy Stars, 10.14 (74)-9.7 (61).
