A DEVELOPING St Arnaud side will be out to back up its first win of the season against a Donald side aiming to keep in touch with the league’s top teams before a second week off.
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Both sides have a strong focus on developing youth from within but Donald have had more success through the first six rounds.
The confidence of the home team received a welcome boost after a strong performance against Charlton.
Coach Jason DeGraaf said his team had the confidence all along but the win provided more belief to the group.
“It was proof that if we work harder for longer then we can get the result,” he said.
“We have been in other games up to our eyeballs which we probably should have won, it goes to show that when you play 120 minutes of football you are chance against anybody.”
The Saints have continued to score well despite only one result finishing in the side’s favour.
The side sits at the bottom of the ladder but only four sides have put more points on the board, including the second-placed Boort side which has scored only six extra points.
It is at the defensive end that the side has really struggled. The 716 points conceded in the first six round is a total more than 200-points higher than any of the seven other teams.
“We have an average age of about 18 in our back line,” DeGraaf said.
“We need our midfielders to help out more by applying pressure and filling in the spaces. That is something that is a work in progress which will take a couple of seasons for the players to be able to do for four quarters.”
Donald coach Tom Bell said if his side plays like it did in its round six win against Birchip-Watchem he is confident it can do well.
“They have a few blokes we will have to keep an eye on,” he said. “Nicholas Coghlan certainly seems to still be kicking a few goals, but we think we have a good match-up for him.”
The Royal Blues side will look to its midfielders to have a big game. Bell said he wants his side to build from the half back line
“Chris Prockter looks ready for a big one and I think Nathan Witherow will have a big impact for us again,” he said.