The Altona men’s Big V basketball side has clocked up some serious miles through the first half of the division 1 season.
The Gators have been on the road for seven of the club’s first nine games, a stretch that has included trips to Warrnambool, Geelong and Mildura.
Adding to the extra pressure of a tough schedule, Altona has had to deal with a number of injuries in its squad.
As a result, the Gators sit in sixth place on the ladder with a 3-6 record.
Altona coach Des Radoslovic says it’s been a tough start to the season.
“It has been challenging,” he said. “We won our first game, but for the first month of the season we were only suiting up about eight players. We had a lot of injuries.”
However, with the tough away run almost over, Radoslovic can see his side’s fortunes starting to turn.
In the past month, Altona narrowly went down to Geelong and Mildura before smashing Sunbury and just getting over the top of Craigieburn.
“On the flip side of that [tough draw], if we can stay in touch and keep working hard, we will get a really good home run coming towards the end of the season,” Radoslovic said.
“We’re building momentum now and I think we have been building that for the last few weeks. If we do keep our heads above water for now, it’s almost like downhill to the end of the season. It’s a really big month coming up.”
This season is Radoslovic’s first as head coach of Altona.
As well as making a push for the finals, he’s also hoping to filter some of the club’s youth league players into the senior team in coming seasons.
“We’ve only got four guys playing this season who played last season,” Radoslovic said.
“There’s been a bit of a revamp to the squad.
“We are working directly with the youth league now so we’re looking to bring all those guys up into our senior program in the next two years.
“It is almost like we are starting the building from here.”
