EFL 2019: East Ringwood remains in Division 1 finals race

East Ringwood coach Marcus Buzaglo says his side’s season “could go either way” as it prepares for a vital clash against Knox in its bid to make finals and avoid consecutive relegations.

Dylan Belo was in East Ringwood’s best players in the win over Lilydale. Picture: Josie Hayden

East Ringwood could end an 11-year finals drought, or it could be staring down the barrel of consecutive relegations.

It’s been said before, but that’s how close the EFL Division 1 season is.

The Roos remained clear of the drop zone for another week thanks to an eight-point win over Lilydale on Saturday, which also kept their finals aspirations intact.

The 7.6 (48) to 5.10 (40) victory lifted East Ringwood to a 4-8 record, just one game outside the top five but equal on premiership points with last-placed Knox.

East Ringwood and Knox were demoted from the top tier last year but both occupy the bottom two places on the ladder, separated by just 1.6 per cent.

The two sides will meet in Round 13 in a clash Roos coach Marcus Buzaglo described as “super important”.

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Buzaglo said East Ringwood’s season “could go either way” as it vies for its first finals berth since 2008.

“It (win over Lilydale) gets us closer to where we want to be in terms of finals but also there’s that other elephant in the room as well you want to keep at bay,” Buzaglo said.

“If we didn’t get the job done we’d be on the bottom but there’s still a long way to go and every game is pretty open. There are no results that wouldn’t surprise you.”

Buzaglo said his side had been competitive in all its games aside from fixtures against Park Orchards (56 points) and Bayswater (51 points).

Thirty of 60 Division 1 games have been decided by 20 points or less.

“Last year, I’ll be honest, we were quite comfortable going down but we’re in a situation now where we’ve got really good juniors coming through and it’s really important we stay up at this level,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be great, I’d say that, but six games left, anything could happen and I’m pretty comfortable we can win a few of those six games. I won’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind (relegation) but you can’t let it worry us.”

Injuries have meant East Ringwood has had to dip into its depth, using nearly 40 players.

But Leigh Osborne, Chris Cerni, James Belo and Tom Hancock are close to returning.

“Over the next couple of weeks we’ll get some pretty good players back so we’re pretty hopeful we could do a bit of damage in the back half of the year,” Buzaglo said.

“We haven’t had a great run but we’ll get a few players back and we’ve been able to play some young kids — Connor Weightman, Damon Delaney — and they’re performing really well. It’s given us an opportunity to play them and some other guys who have been in and out of the side over the last couple of years.

“They’ve had a chance to play some consistent senior footy and a few of those guys have taken that opportunity.”

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