Northcote Park ninth on Northern Football League ladder after being dismantled by rampant Eltham

Northcote Park football manager John Matthew says the club will need to win its next 10 Northern Football League matches to be a chance of playing finals.

NFL Football: Bundoora V Northcote Park. Northcote no 27 Julian Violato with the ball

NORTHCOTE Park football manager John Matthew admits the threat Division 2 football doesn’t sit well with the club after its indifferent start to the Northern Football League season.

The highly-fancied Cougars are mired in Division 1’s bottom two after eight rounds with only one win a and a draw to show for their efforts.

Matthew said it would be a “massive ask” for the club to resurrect its season and play finals, tipping Northcote Park would need to win 10 games straight.

He said the club’s immediate focus was on turning its disappointing form around after a 66-point loss against Eltham engineered by former Northcote Park under-19 player James Kroussoratis.

“They came from Division 2 ... and since then they’ve really been a bit of a powerhouse,” Matthew said.

“It won’t sit well with the footy club, that’s for sure, but we’re the ones that put ourselves in this situation.”

Kroussoratis kicked eight goals as Eltham recorded a 21.6 (132) to 9.12 (66) win at Bill Lawry Oval on Saturday.

Matthew said a combination of factors had condemned the Cougars to their worst start in at least four years.

“We’re sort of scratching our heads,” he said.

“A lot of our better players haven’t had great years and our recruits have been OK, but we expected them to complement what we already had.

“As a complete unit, we’re just not playing as good as we have over the past couple of years.”

Northcote Park has a bye this weekend, along with the rest of Division 1, before a vital clash against bottom side Whittlesea.

Matthew said the Cougars didn’t have great memories of Whittlesea Showgrounds after falling by 33 points on their last visit in 2012.

But he added Cougars’ coach Jason Heatley was confident the club had enough talent to kickstart its revival after the week off.

Meanwhile, Fitzroy Stars stormed home to beat Lalor, kicking eight goals to three in the last quarter at Lalor Reserve to triumph 19.15 (129) to 16.19 (115).

The Stars sit third on the Division 2 ladder behind North Heidelberg and Mernda.

In Division 3, Parkside is rooted to the bottom of the ladder after a heavy loss against Thomastown.