Tara Murray
The Sunbury Kangaroos are slowly building into the Essendon District Football League division 2 season.
The Kangaroos lost in round one, but have managed to win their next three matches to be 3.1
They had a bye on the weekend.
Coach Shanon Carroll said they were happy with how things had gone so far.
‘It’s different from last year [when they were 0-5],” he said. “On the weekend against Coburg Districts it was one of our best wins.
“We were undermanned and it was a real blue collar win. The game could have gone either way and we came away with.”
Carroll said that performance showed the growth in the group and the ability to fight through adversity.
He said they were starting to show more maturity on the field and it was the reason why they got the win.
“The last part of the final quarter we played a brand of footy we had been training for,” he said. “We’d not had the courage to use it in a game before and they guys nailed it and it was everything that we have been working on.”
Carroll said their only loss back in round one against Taylors Lakes, a side that Carroll sees as one of the premiership favourites, was disappointing knowing that they had their chances early in the game.
Carroll said the bye had come at a perfect time for the side and they would get a few players back after the break.
Rocco Tripodi is one who will return while Jake Olivieri has had a strong period in the reserves after missing a big chunk of pre-season.
Lachlan Treweek also played in the reserves and is among others pushing to play seniors.
One player that won’t be back in the near future is John Corso.
The vice-captain hasn’t played since round two when two chunks of his knee were taken out.
“He’s out indefinite,” Carroll said. “It was one of those ugly ones. I told him family first, work second and footy is a distant third. We want him to get his health right.”
Carroll was planning to head down to watch Burnside Heights and Westmeadows on the bye weekend.
Both teams were undefeated entering the match.
The Kangaroos face them and Taylors Lakes in three of their next four matches.
“We still have work to do,” Carroll said. “We’re trying to get that balance right with our squad.
“It’s good to see we’re adapting and the sides that can do the quickest will go deepest this year.”
