Sharp end of the season sees Bloods talent flow

Rajith Priyan is impressing in his first season for the Bloods. 161142_36 Picture: GARY SISSONS

By Nicholas Creely

It’s an exciting time to be at Springvale South with an exciting crop of talent set to take the Bloods to the pointy end of the season.
It’s been a tricky first half of the season for the Bloods who, despite not being at their absolute best, still find a way to win.
And club skipper and DDCA legend Craig Slocombe believes that the hard work is ahead of the group, is uncertain where they are placed in the bigger picture, but believes there is significant talent.
“I always try and pull the top seven or eight and think we may have four of them covered for instance, and if we win those four and win another three from the rest we should play finals,” he said.
“It’s hard to know at this stage and we are nowhere near knowing how we are travelling because we have some very hard games after the break which is going to test us, no doubt.
“There’s a lot of guys that are a little overdue to start showing their talent and Nathan King got his first 100 this year out at Dingley a couple of games ago – let’s hope he can keep it going – he is a very talented man,” he said.
“But also Dylan Quirk is in some serious form with the bat in my opinion, and the way he is batting and his attitude to it all is excellent – he is in for a massive second half of the year, I think.”
But arguably the biggest bolter has been the tear-away quick from Sri Lanka Rajith Priyan who is starting to become a force to be reckoned with in the Turf 1 ranks.
“This is Rajith’s first year at the club – he made his own way over here from Sri Lanka, I knew virtually nothing about him before he got there – he is just a hardworking, honest swing bowler and, as we saw in the second innings last week, he can certainly hold a bat as well.”