By Arian Odza
Surrey Park are right back into form and ready to take on the lowly ranked Croydon North MLOC KangaRams this weekend after the extended break due to the fourth lockdown within the Melbourne region.
The Panthers will be looking to secure their sixth win of the season this weekend and continue to build on their significant momentum after another dominant win over Silvan in Round Nine last weekend.
The Panthers dictated the match in a manner that was full of buoyancy, specifically with regards to the confident attacking pressure that was displayed, particularly in the opening half, where the Panthers blew the Cats away.
Although the final margin was 51 points, the Panthers were having trouble breaking away in the third term, with Silvan looking to make a comeback kicking five goals after half time. However, sparks of brilliance and an assertive style of footy from individuals such as Mathew Pollock, Mitchell Molnar and Callum Garvin ensured the side secured the four points with their standout performances.
The win puts the Panthers third on the ladder, four points behind second place Forest Hill.
The win is the fifth for newly appointed senior coach David Jensen, who hopes his side can regain the momentum it had before the statewide shutdown.
“They are pretty excited to be back into footy, we have had really strong numbers on the training track which justifies how keen they are, so going into this weeks match we play the KangaRams and they are looking forward to the game and we will throw around a few players in different spots and it should be exciting.” Jensen said.
With regards to motivation within the side, Jenson explains that the players are still as keen as ever for the remainder of the season.
“The boys are at a really high level of excitement for footy, they are really keen for the season and what lies ahead.”
The senior coach Jensen is looking to keep his squad grounded, despite looking more than likely to appear in a second straight Division Four finals series.
“We are not looking too far ahead into finals, we are looking to ourselves as a team to continually evolve and improve, so finals is sort of an expectation for us in the background not the forefront,”
“Having said that from a coaching point of view, if results go the way we think they will go this weekend, we will probably be hard to not be able to play finals because Silvan who are fifth, they play Coldstream and if they lose, they will be three games behind us, however, we are not really focused on finals, we are just trying to improve.”