A bye couldn’t have come at a better time for the Darley Devils.
After a slow start to the Ballarat Football League season, the Devils seemed to have regained the form that won the premiership last season – they knocked off the until then undefeated Lake Wendouree in round 12.
But the good form wasn’t to continue, and the Devils suffered successive 90-plus point losses, which puts the side among four others fighting it out for the last finals spot.
Devils’ coach Jarrod Edwards said it had been a frustrating past two weeks.
“To be honest, the bye has come at a good time,” he said.
“After the Lake Wendouree match, we lost four guys, and then another couple out of the Bacchus Marsh game.
“We’re struggling for depth, and the guys we’ve lost have been at our top end.
“We’ve struggled to replace them.”
Edwards said he hoped that the side would regain a few players after the bye.
“We had seven or eight players missing from the side that we fielded against Redan. We only had six players from last year’s grand final playing.
“It has been frustrating but we hope to get a few back in the next few weeks.”
One player who won’t be back this season is stand-in captain Darren Leonard, who had surgery to fix a broken leg.
He joins captain Shane Page, who has missed most of the year with a shoulder injury, on the sidelines.
Edwards knows the task to make finals is a tough one. The Devils currently sit seventh on the ladder, percentage behind Melton. Ballarat are a further game back with East Point two games behind.
The Devils face fifth-placed North Ballarat City, win-less Melton South and third-placed Sunbury Lions in the last three weeks.
“It’s touch and go to make finals,” Edwards said. “Hopefully, we can pinch a couple of wins.
“The last couple of weeks haven’t helped percentage wise, so we need to win games,” he said.
“We need to win at least two games, and we are away from home for all three games.
“All three games are knock-out finals.”
The Devils weren’t the only side with a bye at the weekend, with Bacchus Marsh and Melton also enjoying the weekend off.
Melton South, though, was one team to get on the field on Saturday to take on Ballarat.
The Panthers were in the match until half time, but the Swans’ class showed through in the second half for their 25.18 (168)-9.11 (65) win. Brendan Hooper and Benjamin Sortino kicked two goals each for the Panthers, with Sortino named best in the loss.
