NFL 2018: Laurimar eyes maiden Division 3 finals berth with one round left in home-and-away season

LAURIMAR is confident its breakthrough campaign can translate into finals success as it pushes for a maiden top-four finish in Northern Football League Division 3.

LAURIMAR is confident its breakthrough campaign can translate into finals success as it pushes for a maiden top-four finish in Northern Football League Division 3.

With one round remaining in the regular season, the Power is poised to snatch the last finals spot from Mernda.

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Laurimar’s 15.11 (101) to 11.9 (75) victory over Lalor on Saturday put it within striking distance of the Demons, who were beaten by St Mary’s by 39 points.

Should Mernda prevail this weekend against Panton Hill and the Power topples Reservoir, fourth spot would be decided on percentage.

Mernda (111.18) currently holds a slight percentage advantage over Laurimar (108.43).

Laurimar is launching toward a top-four finish with a round left in the Division 3 season. Picture: Nathan McNeill.

“If we do play some finals footy, I think we can be competitive there,” Laurimar coach Justin Sherman said.

“For us, it’s hopefully finishing off the year strongly. If we play finals, great.

“If not, we look forward to next year and coming back bigger and stronger.”

Laurimar has been one of the stories of 2018 in its second senior campaign, rising from eighth last season to contend for a finals berth.

“It’s definitely exceeded my expectations,” said Sherman, who succeeded the club’s inaugural senior coach Wayne Sharkie.

“I didn’t want to put any measurements on the year in terms of win-loss.

“It was more about building a structure, building a culture, building strong foundations and being competitive.”

One or Laurimar and Mernda is set to miss out on Division 3 finals. Picture: Nathan McNeill.

The Power has claimed wins against finals-bound Panton Hill and South Morang this year and got within 19 points of minor premier St Mary’s in Round 4.

“We know that our game style stacks up,” Sherman said.

“Through that period through the middle of the year we knocked off three of the top four sides and got some really good momentum. But then we had a couple of bad losses as well.

“I guess you need those to give you that reality check to learn from as well and it was a good learning curve for our younger players.”

Laurimar hosts winless Reservoir in the last round, while Mernda is at home against Panton Hill.

South Morang meets St Mary’s and Heidelberg West takes on Lalor in the remaining games.