Rupertswood has racked up another win, but the Sharks know they still have a lot of work to do in the Riddell District Football League.
With one loss after five rounds the Sharks are the highest-scoring team in the league, but coach Kevin Fitzgerald said they have to work harder.
“The amount of work we are doing needs to increase,” Fitzgerald said.
“We think we can play a lot better football than what we’ve been playing.
“There’s a long way to go. It’s no good getting carried away with our results.
“As I said to the boys, it’s no good being the March champions and winning games by a mile.
When we come to the business end of the season, we have to be playing good footy.”
The Sharks defeated a determined Riddell side 15.12 (102)-9.11 (65) on Saturday.
All day the Sharks looked the likely winners, but the Bombers wouldn’t go away.
Fitzgerald was frustrated after the game.
“They were pretty good and I thought we were pretty scratchy,” he said.
“They were pretty competitive, tackled really well and they kept the pressure on us. It was a tough game in the end.
“We thought it should have blown out. They kicked four cheap ones in the last quarter. Credit to them that they kept running in the end and we didn’t.”
Sean Hetherington and Jayden Muscat kicked three goals apiece for the Sharks.
James Nolan kicked four goals for the Bombers, but was reported and sent from the ground in the third quarter.
The Sharks face a testing two weeks with matches against the much-improved Romsey and the Sunbury Kangaroos.
The Sharks will be without big man Joel West, who is out injured with a calf injury. Fitzgerald said not having West, who has only played two games this season, was a big loss.
“We haven’t been able to get [all the recruits] on the park at the same time,” he said.
“Westy wasn’t able to play today and that changed the way we set up. If you take him out, you’ve got to find someone who can pinch hit in the ruck.”
Nicholas Agnello is also in doubt with an ankle injury. He was on crutches after the game.
In other matches, the results went as expected: Romsey kicked away in the second half against Lancefield, Macedon smashed Broadford, Diggers Rest rebounded with a 120-point win against Rockbank, Sunbury Kangaroos were too good for Melton Centrals and Wallan defeated Woodend-Hesket.
