West Preston-Lakeside produced arguably its finest performance of the season in dismantling Macleod
It took until Round 13 and the NFL Division 1 grand final rematch it was anything but a contest as West Preston-Lakeside produced argubaly its finest performance of the season against Macleod.
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West Preston-Lakeside coach Rob Maiorana isn’t interested in talk of finals.
The Roosters produced arguably their finest performance of the season, dismantling Macleod by 61 points at JE Moore Park on Saturday.
However, with just four points separating Maiorana’s men in fourth from Hurstbridge in ninth, the NFL Division 1 top five is far from decided.
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It’s a remarkable turnaround from the reigning premier after a 0-6 start.
“Seeing as Macleod is a contender and on the rise — their last six weeks have been pretty strong — it was quite pleasing,” Maiorana said.
“The weekend’s result was important … we’ve put ourselves back in the picture, given ourselves a fighting chance.
“We’ve got five games to go, five difficult games, so we’ve just got to put our best foot forward.”
Despite it being Round 13, it was the first grand final rematch of the season with Macleod to host the return bout in the last weekend of the home-and-away campaign.
The Roosters were barely troubled, skipping out to a 12-point lead at quarter-time and extending their advantage to 22 at half-time.
They then kicked into top gear in the second half, piling on nine goals to three to send a warning to the competition.
Ahmed Saad kicked four majors to extend his lead on top of the goalkicking charts as North Heidelberg star Shane Harvey was held goalless.
Luke Lirosi and Alex Federico were outstanding in the midfield, claiming best on ground honours.
“Those two were pretty important around the contest,” Maiorana said.
“Luke’s biggest asset is willing himself at the contest and both Alex and he were important in the midfield battle.
“We didn’t have it all our own way. Liam Brandt and Hamish Paynter were pretty good, but our guys stuck at it.”
The good news keeps coming for West Preston-Lakeside with star big man Mark Kovacevic back in training and set to return before finals.
It would be a huge boost to the Roosters with last year’s grand final best-on-ground having played just two injury-interrupted games this season.
“He’s got to get a bit of conditioning and training under his belt,” Maiorana said.
“He’s back on the track, so we’re hopeful we could see him in the next month.”
Elsewhere in Division 1, Greensborough bounced back with a 12-point win over North Heidelberg, Hurstbridge upset Bundoora in a one-point thriller, Northcote Park squeezed past Lower Plenty by 10 points and Heidelberg smashed Montmorency by 10 goals.
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