Tara Murray
The bye has come at a perfect time for Melton in the Ballarat Football League.
It has been a big few weeks for the club both on and off the field, with the death of player Billy Sullivan.
Coach Troy Scoble said after the emotion of the last few weeks, the chance to reset was much needed.
He said he was so proud of how the club and the playing group had come together.
“The group has really supported each other and at different times have looked out for each other,” he said.
“They’ve done really well and we’ve still got out on the park and played some good football.
“We’ve got through the last three week block and we can now have a bit of a rest and then we can attack the second half of the season.
“We’ll still have a run this week but we’ll look to freshen them up.”
The Bloods entered the interleague break in the best possible position, sitting atop the table with only one loss.
For Scoble, who is in his first season coaching the club, said the focus this season wasn’t on wins, more about getting their game style right.
“We had a new game style and we wanted to keep improving each week,” he said. “We’re in the top three and it’s a really good chance to cement a high place going into finals.
“We’ve set a good platform.”
Scoble said the first focus for them was to ensure they seal a finals spot. He said usually you need 10 wins to play finals, they’ve got nine on the board already.
“We want to finish as high as we can,” he said. “We expected to get better in the second half of the season.”
While the Bloods are on top, they’ve continued to blood young players coming through.
Scoble said they had played 33 or 34 players already this season.
“We will keep bringing guys in,” he said. “We’ll get three or four back after the break.
“We’ve been focused on giving younger players an opportunity. When they get a game they’ve really earned it.
“We’ll look to get more in the next six weeks.”
The Bloods next week face the Sunbury Lions for the second time in four weeks.
Scoble knows it will be another tough challenge.
“It took every minute of the game last time to beat them,” he said. “It should be a really good contest again.”
In other matches next week, Bacchus Marsh is at home to Lake Wendouree, Darley will face North Ballarat and Melton South has a bye.
