Lyndale coach calls for solidarity

By Gavin Staindl
EMBATTLED Lyndale coach Kris Akers has sent a clear message to his players calling for them to stick by the Division Two club.
Lyndale was beaten by Murrumbeena by 113-points at Barry Powell Reserve, its 13th straight loss of the season, but Akers was adamant that if his core group of players could stick together, Lyndale would be a force in the future.
“It is up to the core group. The club’s future is on their shoulders. If they decide they want to be the driving force behind this club then new guys coming down to training will want to stay.
“If we keep going the way we are, and getting four players to pre-season you could offer a guy $1000 a game, but he will just turn around and say, ‘you’re kidding right’ and walk off,” Akers said.
But Akers was optimistic about the future, suggesting already there was a change in the club.
“The past couple of weeks we have picked up. We were struggling to get numbers down to training but we’re getting better now and the improvement is there to see,” Akers said.
After passing the midway point of the season four weeks ago and turning its focus onto the teams it played earlier in the year, Lyndale’s improvement was evident.
In the opening four rounds, Lyndale lost by an average of 202 points.
In the past four weeks, after playing the same sides, Lyndale has only lost by an average of 114 points – an amount that Akers says highlights his team’s improvement.
“In the last three games we have halved the deficits of the previous times we played the same team… we’re getting better,” Akers said.
Akers is intent on coaching next year but admits he is unsure of what will become of him or his club.
“I want to coach next year. Whether we get relegated to Division Three or we manage to win a couple and stay in division two, I want the 21 players picked to play on the Saturday to give 100 per cent,” Akers said
The two local Division One sides shared a similar fate with Lyndale, with both teams losing on the weekend.
Springvale Districts were handed a convincing loss, going down to Tooronga/Malvern by 125 points at Dunlop Reserve.
A 47-0 second quarter was enough to kill off any early thoughts Springvale had of causing an upset.
Mordialloc was also too good for Dingley edging out the visitors by 17-points at Ben Kavanagh Reserve.
Division Three Doveton Eagles enjoyed a comfortable 130-point win over Cerberus and in doing so became the only local team to take home the points on the weekend.
The visitors started slowly and only held a two-goal lead by the first change but starting from the second quarter the Eagles scored 25 goals to run away with the match.
Meanwhile, Dandenong quickly found out what happens to a team when it fails to score in the first half.
The Redlegs took nearly an hour to score their first goal and subsequently, they were soundly beaten 144-points to Mount Waverley at Mayfield Reserve.
Sandown was not much better and its 80-point loss to Moorabbin keeps it anchored to the bottom end of the division three ladder with only one win.