K rock Football

Portarlington poised to ‘close the gap’

Sports Media Image/Marcel Berens

Portarlington’s looking to ‘close the gap’ on the rest of the BFNL, with new coach Warren Finlayson already impressed with the teams improvement over the course of the pre-season.

The Demons have had two solid hitouts ahead of its season opener against Newcomb at home, getting a positive result against GFNL side St. Albans last Monday night, while getting a win against Parkside at the weekend.

New Portarlington coach Warren Finlayson. (Sports Media Image/Marcel Berens)

Finlayson’s confident that the results from the two matches will help the side be more competitive and potentially break its long winless drought, having not sung the song since Round 16, 2018.

“We’ve had some guys come into the team that we really targeted to help us do that,” he said.

“Obviously there’s a few teams that beat us quite convincingly last year, so we need to close the gap on those teams.

“Hopefully we’ve implemented a few structures and a few supports and a bit of an off-field team that are going to help the playing group close those gaps and get some improved results on those teams that are down in the bottom four where we’ve been for the last six years or so.

“That’s obviously going to come around in the first week, we’ve got a huge game against Newcomb.

“We’ll be looking to implement the things we’ve been working on for months now.

“Hopefully that comes to fruition and we hold a good account of ourselves and it’s a positive result for the footy club.”

The Big Picture: BFNL

Finlayson’s expecting improved quality across the league again this season, noting most sides have recruited well.

“(the BFNL) just attracts players of high quality and we’ve picked up a couple of those ourselves which is super exciting for us.

“We’re expecting everyone to continue to grow and that’s why it’s really important that we close the gap and then become a relevant team again in the Bellarine.

Finlayson was appointed on a two-year deal at Ron Evans Oval at the end of last season.

The Demons last win happened to be against the Power – who they’ll take on at Portarlington on Saturday, April 1.

Twitter: @krockfootball