Tara Murray
Darley came away with the win against local rival Bacchus Marsh on Saturday, but there’s still a lot of improvement left in the reigning Ballarat Football League premiers.
After losing the grand final rematch the week before to North Ballarat, the Devils were keen to bounce back against the Cobras on Saturday.
The Devils jumped out to an early lead and had the game in control at half time, with a 39 point lead.
The margin was still beyond five goals at three quarter time.
The Cobras came home strongly with five goals to one, but the gap was too big with the Devils winning, 12.9 (81)10.9 (69).
Devils president Mark Shelly said while the score line showed a close match in the end, he thought they were always in control.
“We clearly had their measure for most of the day,” he said. “No discredit to Bacchus Marsh I think we were far away from our best.
“We never looked like losing. I thought we were in control.
“We had a few personnel changes in the second half, like Billy Myers didn’t play in ruck where he had been good in the first half.
‘We’ll take the four points and move on.”
Harley Inglis, Will Johnson and Leigh Spiteri kicked three goals each for the Devils.
Shelly said Inglis and Zane Le Huray were their two standouts.
For the Cobras, Jake McCreery and Rye Penny were named their best.
The win moves the Devils to 2-1.
Shelly said he thought that this week against Ballarat in Alfredton would be a good challenge for them.
“It’s looking like they have improved significantly,” he said. “We will get back to the drawing board but at the end of day still early in the season.
“There’s lots of things to work on. We are not hunting anymore, we are the hunted and everyone is trying to stop the reigning premiers.”
Shelly said Saturday was a good day for the club, with the women’s side also beating Bacchus Marsh.
The Devils were too strong against an improved Cobras, winning 14.5 (89)-3.6 (24).
Jaye Dalgleish was named the Devils best, while Jacinta Reid was named the Cobras best.
“On face value everything is going really well at the club,” Shelly said. “We can use the facilities now this year and that is a big thing off field.
“Hopefully we’ll get a few more fundraisers and get back what we lost [with the rooms taking longer than expected].”
