Tara Murray
There’s ominous signs for teams in the Ballarat Football League, with an undefeated Melton side yet to play its best football.
The Bloods have been the dominant side this season and have an average winning margin of nearly 51 points.
Despite this, Bloods coach Aaron Tymms said they were still not where they wanted to be
“We’re going good at the moment, but we’re still not playing our best footy,” he said. “We’re still managing to get the wins.
“There’s signs and glimpses in games of what we can do. We can not have lapses happen.
“We need to get it right for September. There’s a few things to tweak, but we aren’t far off.”
Tymms said they expected to have ups and downs as part of the journey. Being the team to beat is also something new for the Bloods.
“Sides are coming for us,” he said. “It’s a different feeling than when you’re trying to get up there.
“Hopefully the boys can handle it. They’re still pretty young, but they’ve been together for a number of years.”
On Saturday, the Bloods faced an inform Bacchus Marsh side.
While the Cobras were missing a number of big names including Daniel Burton and Rex Hickman, they still presented a big test.
The scoreboard shows a one-sided result in the favour of the Bloods, 15.11 (101)-5.5 (35), Tymms said they didn’t have it all their own way.
“We started well which had been a focus,” he said. “We then had a lapse late in the first quarter and for most of the second.
“Bacchus Marsh was really good. We were able to break it open in the second half.”
Ryan Carter kicked five goals, while Braedan Kight and Lachlan Watkins kicked three goals each.
Tymms said he thought Watkins was the best player on ground without looking back over the tape.
Overall, he said they were close to having 22 winners across the board.
For the Cobras, Joel Freeman was the only multiple goal scorer with two. Spencer Meagher was named their best.
Tymms said they were looking forward to hopefully playing a few full strength top sides in the coming weeks.
Only Jack Walker and Brenton Payne are currently out for the Bloods.
“We play North Ballarat this week,” he said. “They had the bye this week, but they’ve been playing some tough contested footy
“Hopefully we can have a good hit out against them.”
As well as their seniors on top of the ladder, the Bloods reserves are also undefeated. Tymms said there was plenty of competition for spots.
“There were 13 [in the reserves] on Saturday that played seniors for me,” he said.
“It’s nice and it puts pressure on the senior group as well, which is good.”
In other matches, Darley got over the line against Melton South, 12.10 (82)-7.14 (56).
Brett Bewley and Dylan Landt kicked three goals each for the Devils, with Landt named the Devils best.
Broden Collins was named the Panthers best.
