Tara Murray
Newport is putting the wins on the board while also having one eye on the future in the Western Football League division 2 season.
The Panthers have won their first four games and are one of three undefeated teams after the first four rounds.
Coach Rodney Van Reit is happy with how things have gone so far.
“It’s a good start to the year,” he said. “To knock off four in a row puts us in a good position to set us up for the back half of the season.
“I think obviously Albion and Sunshine will be thereabouts. We have a big game this week against Sunshine and it’s a good opportunity to test ourselves at a big club and see where we are at.”
One thing the Panthers have done early is try and give some of their younger players from the under-18s and those just into senior football an opportunity.
Van Reit said it was something that he wanted to do when he came in as coach, but it was also the natural transition for the club and what they want to achieve.
“We’ve debuted a number of players to get that exposure to senior footy,” he said.
“We like what we’ve seen. We think we’ve got some good under-18s and the young kids that have come up the last couple of years.
“It’s an opportunity to grow and we want to continue the success from our juniors. It’s not only good in the short term, but it’s really good in the long term.”
On Saturday, the Panthers got the win against Sunshine Heights.
The Panthers got off to a flier and were able to keep a lead throughout on the way to a 20.16 (136)-11.5 (71) win.
Van Reit said the Dragons came out pretty hard and he was impressed with how they attacked the ball.
“We know we have things to work on out of that game to get better.”
Spencer Davis, Abdul Jawad and Mustafa Mesto kicked three goals each for the Panthers.
Abdul Jawad, Belal Abou-Eid and Timothy Andrews were named best.
Midfielder Trent Rafferty and second gamer Ben Dennison were two that really impressed Van Reit as well.
Van Reit, who is in his first season of coaching, said he was loving the experience. He said it had rejuvenated his love of football and it had been an easy transition from being a player.
Now with the test against Sunshine this week coming, Van Reit said it would be a good test of where they are at and where they need to improve.
In other results, West Footscray beat the Western Rams, while North Footscray fell just short against the Suns.
Braybrook and Laverton had a bye having played their round four match on Good Friday.
In division 1, Altona lost to Caroline Springs in a thriller, while Yarraville Seddon was too good for Hoppers Crossing.
