By ROY WARD
SPRINGVALE Districts isn’t getting carried away with its form after a crushing 118-point thrashing of South Yarra — the Demons are still to beat a finals-calibre side.
Demons coach John McTaggart said he was happy to see his players switch on from the start against South Yarra and kick 33 goals in their clash on Saturday but he has challenged his side to start beating the teams above them.
“We’ve still got to beat one of the top two or three sides,” McTaggart said.
“We play Mordialloc this week and that will be another test against an opponent that should be in the top three or four sides.
“It will give us a good indication of where we are at and how much we’ve come on in the past few weeks.”
McTaggart said the Demons’ big goals tally was in part due to the small size of South Yarra’s ground along with his midfielders’ ability to cover lots of territory and push into the forward 50-metre line.
“It’s a good result for us, but we’re trying not to put too many eggs in one basket.
“South Yarra has quite a small ground, so it was easier for our midfielders to get into position to score.
“We also rotated guys through the forward line. It was good to see a few players who’ve put in the work all season long get some reward in terms of kicking a few goals.”
The Demons had 12 goal-kickers and seven of them kicked two or more goals. Rob Johnston led the way with six goals and Matt Thompson had five.
Damien Stark, Gavin Vassallo and Ben Laier were best players for the Demons.
McTaggart also said his side now had to consolidate its start to the season with more wins in the increasingly tight Southern Football League division 2 competition starting with Mordialloc.
“You can see how even the comp is. This is a home game for us. We want to stay in touch with those other sides.
“It’s a very even competition from top spot through to at least seventh place.
“The sides winning matches are those that turn up to play from the start, so that will be the key for us.”
In division 1 Dingley fell to its first loss of the SFL division 1 season, going down to St Paul’s by 12 points on Saturday.
The Dingoes trailed by three goals at half-time and weren’t able to recover. Marcus Freeman and Darren Andrews were named best players.
In division 3, Dandenong bounced back from a loss to Mt Waverley to beat highly rated Sandown Cobras by 23 points on Saturday.
Warren Kairns, Damien Butsch and Trent Alexander were named best players for the Redlegs and Matthew Menzies and John Frenken were best for the Cobras.
Leading division 3 sides Doveton Eagles, Mount Waverley and Lyndale all recorded comfortable wins.
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