Bacchus Marsh pulled off a major recruiting coup last week, signing former AFL player Damian Cupido for the rest of the 2016 season.
And Cupido, who left his coaching role at Essendon District Football League club Airport West to join the Cobras, wasted no time fitting in at his new surroundings, booting 10 goals in a huge win against Melton South in Melton on Saturday.
In his AFL career, Cupido played 13 games for Brisbane Lions and 40 for Essendon, kicking a total of 66 goals.
The 34-year-old’s arrival is a huge boost for Bacchus Marsh, which is eyeing off a return to the Ballarat Football League finals this year.
The Cobras have hit the ground running, putting themselves in the conversation for most improved team through the season’s early stages.
After a first-round win against Sunbury, the Cobras claimed the huge scalp of reigning premier Darley a week later.
Then the club dropped a game to East Point before its 24.12 (156)-4.10 (34) massacre of Melton South.
Speaking before the latest match, Bacchus Marsh president Adam Sutherland said the club was encouraged by its start to the season.
“We’re pretty satisfied,” he said. “We’ve probably played only one bad quarter for the year so far – the first quarter against East Point.
“They were coming off a couple of tight losses and were just hungrier, cleaner and better than us in the first quarter.
“We worked hard all day, but we were never likely to reel that back in.
“We had one bad quarter. It’s disappointing, but I think we can accept it and move on.”
Sutherland gave a lot of the credit for the club’s impressive start to the season to first-year coach Travis Hodgson.
But the hard work is only just beginning for Bacchus Marsh, with two tough matches in the next fortnight.
The Cobras take on Ballarat and Melton, both of whom are also hunting a top-six finish.
A pair of wins would go a long way to getting the club into a finals berth.
“We haven’t shied away from it … for us to improve we have to play finals,” Sutherland said.
“The next few games are winnable, but we still need to go out there and do it.
“Ballarat beat us in the second-last game of last year to deny us a finals spot and Melton is off to a strong start to this year.
“We want to win, but we know that if we don’t bring that effort then they’ll be tough days.”
