CONTENDER Timboon Demons is adjusting to life as the hunted, condemning East Warrnambool to three scoreless quarters to earn a 72-point triumph.
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The Mick Hunt-coached side used a stellar opening term to swing momentum in their favour, coming home with a six-goal final term to post a percentage boosting 16.16 (112) to 5.10 (40) victory.
Hunt said while the Demons had three victories and a draw from their last month of football, there was room for improvement.
He said a clash with Dennington next week could shape the club’s season.
“It was an important game because it takes us into a bit of a different sphere now,” Hunt said.
“We’ve had three and half wins from four games, but Dennington will be tough as hell out there.
“It’s the old cliche for us at the moment, we’re taking one game at a time.”
Hunt said he was “relieved” to defeat East on the back of the Bombers’ encouraging recent form.
“I reckon East have been going alright. They had a fair bit of the footy on Saturday but they just couldn’t finish it off,” he said.
“I think we left Reid Oval thinking ‘that was the result we wanted’. But they were competitive, and they dominated half-back. Danny (Chatfield) was brilliant for them again.
“But it was a win away from home and you don’t care who the opposition is when you can get one of those. It builds a bit of momentum for us.”
Cairns Saints recruit Dale Hood slotted four goals in the triumph – his best individual effort of the season – while half-back Simon Harkness was named best-on-ground.
Former coach Matt Whitehead was also valuable across half-back for Timboon.
Hunt said defence was an integral part of his side’s set-up.
“If somebody was to look at our percentage, I think you’d see we’ve been defending reasonably well all season,” he said.
“There’s an old saying which says high scores get memberships, but if you can’t defend, you’ll never be in the hunt.
“I still think we can be better though. The test comes now against Dennington. We’ve beaten Merrivale and drawn with Nirranda.
“But we want to be challenging all the time.”
The experienced coach said his players were relishing the chance to test themselves against the best sides in the coming months.
“The question is how long we can keep the momentum going for,” Hunt told The Standard.
“We’ve been hunting for the last couple of weeks, but we were being hunted by East on Saturday. We got through that just fine.”
Timboon Demons plays Dennington away next week.