Reservoir claims third win of NFL Division 3 season as rebuild continues
A three-win season might not be special to some but it’s a significant step forward in Reservoir’s rebuild. Here’s what it means to the Mustangs.
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Reservoir coach Justin George can see the positive change coming.
The Mustangs secured their third win of the NFL Division 3 season on Saturday, defeating Lalor by 24 points at Crispe Reserve.
While all three victories have been against the Bloods, it’s a significant step in the club’s ground-up rebuild.
Reservoir has broken some important ground this season, winning its first game since 2017, winning multiple games for the first time since 2015 and senior and reserves winning on the same time since 2015.
The 9.12 (66) to 6.6 (42) win ensures the Mustangs avoid the wooden spoon for the first time since returning from recess and condemns Lalor to its lowest finish in club history.
George said it was great reward for a lot of hard work and there was still an opportunity for more.
“It’s really great reward for my guys and how hard they’ve been working,” he said.
“We’ve worked really hard, myself, the coaching staff and football manager, we’ve worked hard to recruit young players to the club.
“We went with a youth movement so we’ve got to wait for them to mature and get some experience but the energy they’ve brought and the way they go about it, I’ve been really impressed.
“They’ve brought in to what we’ve been teaching and the style of football we’re trying to promote.
“We wanted to put a foundation in place and I think we’ve achieved that.
“We set a pretty lofty goal of trying to get to four wins, so we’ve got one game to go – obviously it will be a real challenge up at Kilmore – but we’re excited we’ve got the opportunity to achieve our goal.”
George expects the significant improvement this season to only grow in 2023 with a full pre-season with the players.
He said the likes of Tom Dunn, Nelson MacDonald, Taylor Bryant, Dale Wells had stepped up and helped ease the pressure on experienced players like Nathan King and Damien Petrucciani.
It could also help the Mustangs recruit new talent.
“The great thing is we’ve already signed out entire list from this season for 2023, which is fantastic,” he said.
“We had a late start (this year) but we can do a proper pre-season now and get some real improvement into them and some real fitness levels and we think we can improve quickly.
“Having put that foundation in place it also gives us the opportunity to go and recruit some talent that will help us improve even quicker.”
An inaccurate 0.5 first quarter saw Reservoir trail by eight points at the first change but the Mustangs flipped the script in the second term – booting 5.0 – to lead by 14 points at half-time.
The Mustangs increased their lead in the third and fourth quarters to run out comfortable winners.
Dale Wells was best-on-ground with a strong performance in attack, snaring two goals, while Rob Holland continued his outstanding form in midfield.
“Dale was fantastic, he played at full forward (on Saturday) but he’s been all over our forward line,” George said.
“He’s given us a target up forward, he’s not the biggest guy in the world but he works hard and has good hands, everything he does he does with a touch of class. It was a really accomplished performance.
“Rob’s form has been sensational too, we’ve had to move him around but once he settled into an onball role he’s blossomed.
“He’s fit and strong with good pace and can kick it a mile so he’s a dangerous football and hard to counter.
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“We say this about a lot of our guys, the more game time we’ve got into them the better they’ve played and Robbie has really benefited we’ve improved generally and he’s led the way.
George believes skipper Tom Hollaway’s form merits Team of the Year inclusion.
“He hasn’t lowered his colours all year … he’s made centre half-back his own, he’s led us all year and been outstanding.”
Reservoir will round out the home-and-away season with a trip to fourth-placed Kilmore, while Lalor will face second-placed Laurimar at Laurimar.
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