Top-of-the-ladder Yarraville-Seddon will not let outside noise distract it from its game-at-a-time approach in the Western Region Football League division 2.
The Eagles are finals bound, more than likely will take pole position into September and most are tipping them to go all the way.
However, Eagles coach Vinnie Turcinovich is not looking beyond this Saturday’s trip to Albanvale.
“I’ve been in footy for long enough to know not to take anything for granted,” he said.
“We haven’t spoken about finals in house, outer house they’ve spoken about it.
“It’s still early days and things can turn around pretty quickly.”
What cannot be denied is Yarraville-Seddon’s commitment and desire to succeed.
The Eagles flexed their muscle again on Saturday in a 62-point win over Newport Power at Yarraville Oval.
It was another ruthless performance from a side that no team wants to stare down in such form.
Turcinovich took over an Eagles side that went down in last year’s grand final, but with a revamped line-up featuring younger and even hungrier players there has been no hangover from last season.
It has been all systems go from day one of pre-season, with Turcinovich coming in with no preconceived ideas about the make up of his best team and giving spots to players who perform on the track, and they’ve responded well.
“Nothing is too hard for this group,” he said.
“They are like ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ and they’ll take it on.
“That’s the mentality of the boys.”
Turcinovich is impressed with the togetherness of the team.
He rates the bond between the players as the key ingredient to being undefeated.
“It’s a really close group and the confidence between themselves is huge,” Turcinovich said.
“There’s also a belief in our game plan and every week I’ll chuck in something new to test the boys out.”
Another important aspect for Yarraville-Seddon is its versatility across the board.
One-position players are largely on the outer for players who can contribute in multiple areas of the ground.
It’s why the Eagles have seven players who have kicked 10-plus goals.
“I’ve said to the boys, if you play one spot, you may be in the side, if you play two, you’re going to get considered, if you play three different positions, you’re going to get picked,” Turcinovich said.
Corey Salvador is the poster boy of the new Yarraville-Seddon.
Salvador was stuck in the reserves last season, but has kicked a league-leading 46 goals in 11 matches this season.
“When I first had a look at the squad, we’ve got a lot of young kids coming through, but there were players like Corey and more than a handful of others who were very good development players,” Turcinovich said.
“Giving them tools to be better players, anything can happen and that’s why I didn’t go recruiting because I thought we had the players there in the development squad – I call the reserves the development squad – to step up.
“A lot of coaches don’t spend time on that, but if you’ve got your own junior players coming through, if you can improve them, you’re going to go a long way and all of a sudden you’ve got new recruits who would otherwise have played in the reserves.
“With the tools and his belief, anything can happen.”
