Tara Murray
The Sunbury Lions believe they have turned the corner in the Ballarat Football League.
After hitting rock bottom in their loss to the Bacchus Marsh on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, the Lions have since started to find some form.
Two close losses showed the Lions they were on the right track, with a breakthrough win coming against Lake Wendouree last week.
Lions coach Travis Hodgson said despite winning just two games for the year, they believe they are heading in the right direction.
“The win didn’t come as a surprise,” he said. “Bacchus Marsh was our worst performance of the year, we bottomed out.
“Then against East Point and Ballarat we played well without snatching a win.
“We could have won the last three. Ballarat we lost by a point on the siren and against East Point we were 78 apiece with a couple of minutes to go.
“We’ve started to play some good football.”
Hodgson said in recent weeks, they had started to show signs of being able to turn momentum around and get their game back on track.
He said against Lake Wendouree they conceded the first three goals of the game, to trail early. They would then kick seven of the next eight goals to be in control at quarter time.
For the Lions sitting second bottom, is not a position they have found themselves in for a very long time.
Hodgson said while it had been a bit stressful as a coach, things didn’t seem as bad as they seem.
“Credit to the boys, they continue to be really positive,” he said. “They’re enjoying football as much as you can without winning many games.
“I feel we’re on the right path and not too far away. There’s those two recent games we lost … and Darley at Darley and we were up against Redan. So many times we’ve been in winning positions, and not been able to convert them.”
While the Lions sit second bottom with just two wins, they are still mathematically a chance of making finals if things go their way.
Hodgson said internally they hadn’t spoken about finals for a number of weeks. He said the focus for them was finishing the season on a high.
“We want to win some more games before the end of the season,” he said. “We want to get us much out of the rest of the season and maintain that into next year.
“I think the group will stick together. We are heading in the right direction.”
Pleasing for Hodgson and the Lions has been the performances of some of their younger players.
Tyson Lever, Jake Sutton, Riley Miller and Harrison Minton-Connell, who were the best four against Lake Wendouree, are all 22 and under, which is good signs for the coming seasons.
The Lions are due to face Darley at Clarke Oval on Saturday.
Hodgson said it was a good opportunity to test themselves against a side looking to play finals.
