Tara Murray
Parkside set the tone in the pre-season and it’s reflected in its early Western Region Football League division 2 season form.
The Magpies are undefeated after six rounds and having played every team once, showing some good form along the way.
Coach Chris Muratore said it was nice to have a perfect record at this time of the season,
“It’s been good so far and I definitely can’t fault anything that they’ve done so far,” he said.
“It’s been a good two to three months from the beginning of the pre-season through to now.
“We keep throwing things at them and they keep taking the challenges.”
Muratore said one of the keys early for the group was having kept the majority of last season’s list together.
He said they wanted to take what they had done the last couple of years and raise that level.
“We didn’t want to go too far away from what we’ve been working on the last 18 months,” he said.
“We have to take the game to the next level and keep growing together. Having 90 per cent of the group together means more games together and more structure and you’re seeing that now.
“You know what the next person will do and sometimes it feels like a two to three goal advantage to us.”
On Saturday the Magpies faced Albion in a top of the table clash.
Albion started the better of the two teams, before the Magpies hit the lead in the second quarter.
The Magpies were able to extend the margin in the second half, winning 13.10 (88)-8.7 (55).
Muratore said the game played out the way they expected it too.
“With their ground being really small, they like that really strong one-on-one game,” he said.
“We had to be patient and keep running and do what we do on the big grounds.
“We were patient knowing that their physical pressure wouldn’t last for the whole 120 minutes. We wanted to go in at quarter time a goal or two down and get to work after that knowing our fitness levels were better.”
Muratore said they got better and better as the game went on.
Shaun Campbell and Lachlan Langwell kicked three goals each for the Magpies.
Maxwell Naughton, Jackson Barrett and John Atar were named the best for the Magpies.
The most pleasing thing for Muratore was the performances of the guys that came into the side, with several key names out.
Jackson Lesko, Jy Lambley and Edward all missed the game.
“We played a couple of kids,” he said. “It’s a big situation against Albion and Albion and the most pleasing thing was how they played.
“Isaac Dukic played his second game at centre half back, we gave him a role. He’s played two games and both have been past player days, so he has seen how senior footy is.”
The Magpies this week face a win less Braybrook side this Saturday.
Muratore said they would assess a few sore players during the week and not take any risks, before continuing to focus on what they’ve been doing.
