Tara Murray
The Sunbury Kangaroos have moved into the Essendon District Football League division 2 top four at the end of a round for the first time this season.
The Kangaroos now have to stay there this weekend to play finals.
The Kangaroos now sit in fourth spot on the same amount of points as fifth placed Coburg Districts, but 19 per cent ahead.
The Kangaroos face top side Oak Park on the road in the final round, while Coburg Districts are away to Burnside Heights.
Kangaroos coach Shanon Carroll said he knows that it will be a tough ask, but they will give it a crack.
“We will give everything this week against Oak Park,” he said. “They’ve got a few players carrying injuries, we’re expecting them to rest a few players.
“Sometimes all you can do is have a crack and we’ll be doing that for sure. We want to play finals.”
Carroll said if they make finals they believe that they can have a real impact when they play their best football.
He said if they miss out, there are lots of positives from the season, both on and off the field. He said there was a few moments in games where they didn’t quite execute properly, which could be the difference between them playing finals or not.
“There is huge upset and we are such a young side,” he said. “I’m like a proud parent, but you can get frustrated when you know how good they can be.
“We are almost there and getting the belief that we are good enough. We have used 38 players this year and the structures have been relatively the same all year.
“It’s more about the belief and trust in each other. Regardless of the age and personnel, things have worked for us and we’re going to go out there this week and give it a hell of crack.”
The last time the two teams played, Oak Park smashed Sunbury, with Carroll saying it was their one bad day they’d had this season.
On Saturday, the Kangaroos faced Burnside Heights which was aiming to keep its small finals hopes alive.
The Kangaroos led by 13 points at quarter time and three goals at half time.
After half time the Kangaroos took control of the match, kicking 13 goals to four to come away with a 19.15 (129)-7.13 (55).
Zachary Ploog in his first senior game in more than a month kicked four goals, as did Matthew Leonard.
League leading goal kicker Rhys Magin kicked three goals.
Ruck Brenton Sutherland was named best on ground, while Nathan Thomas and Shawn Bowden also had strong games.
Carroll said Burnside Heights was understrength and while they kept fighting, were hit hard with injuries to key players.
East Sunbury had a tough day out against Northern Saints in their match on Saturday afternoon.
After pushing the Saints the last time they played them, the Thunder proved no match in the 20.12 (132)-6.9 (45) win.
