It’s pretty simple for Westmeadows … win this weekend and the Tigers play finals, lose and they have to rely on other results going their way to finish in the final four.
The Tigers are fourth on the table with just one home-and-away match to play.
They made sure their finals hopes remained in their control with a comprehensive win over Craigieburn in Division 1 of the Essendon District Football League on Saturday.
After an even first quarter, the Tigers kicked nine goals to three in the second to open up a match-winning lead over table-toppers Craigieburn.
And they kept extending that lead in the second half to win 21.11 (137) – 13.7 (85).
For Tigers coach Dave Connell it was about getting the win and not focusing on what was ahead of them.
“I think we’ve played our best football in the last few weeks,” Connell said. “It was really tough [losing to Essendon Doutta Stars the previous weekend] as we were satisfied with how we played.
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“You have to beat these sides if you want to play finals and we’ve been building towards this the last four to five weeks.”
Cameron Trewin kicked seven goals for the Tigers in a near best-on-ground performance.
“Cam is my assistant coach and we found the forward line of Cam, Roden Aldridge and Luke Wilson wasn’t working,” Connell said.
“Cam came to me and said that for team balance he would step back and semi retire. He continued to train and when Roden did his ACL, Cam came back in.
“Against the Eagles, I took control of the forward line, which Cam normally looks after, and let him just play.”
At the other end Cameron Cloke kicked six for the Eagles to go back to the top of the division’s goal kicking table.
Connell said he would look to his experienced players during the week to ensure the players don’t get ahead of themselves.
“It can go two ways. We can get ahead of ourselves or have self-belief to focus on this week,” he said.
Connell said even if they didn’t make finals, the side had improved on last year.
“Last year we couldn’t get within 12 or 13 goals of the top two sides,” he said. “This year we matched it against Doutta Stars and defeated Craigieburn.”
Tullamarine remains two points outside the top four after a win over Oak Park. To make the finals, it needs to win at East Keilor and hope Westmeadows or Oak Park lose. If Oak Parks loses and Tullamarine wins it will come down to percentage.
