Holding onto the slimmest of finals hopes, assistant coach Michael Herlihy says Portarlington isn’t looking beyond Saturday’s match-up with Modewarre at Portarlington Recreation Reserve.
The Demons sit two wins and 30 per cent behind fifth-placed Anglesea with six matches to play, with early-season losses to Surf Coast and Ocean Grove set to prove costly.
Sam Scott’s men would likely have to go unbeaten for the remainder of the home-and-away season to snatch their first finals berth since 1994.
“We just focus on this week,” Herlihy told K rock Football’s Beyond the Boundary podcast.
“And we understand the situation we’re in, and I think if I had your time again, you’d obviously want to turn up against Surf Coast, and you want to try and pip Ocean Grove as well
“But we can’t control that now.
“So, the focus certainly is Modewarre, and Sam’s been really strong on his focus on this week.
“All we can do is control what’s in front of us and we need to win. So that’s what we hope to do.”
Herlihy arrived at Portarlington from Swan Hill, where he coached for two seasons, in the second half of rehabilitating a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
He made his debut in the win over Newcomb in Round 9.
However, it’s the victory over finals-bound Barwon Heads in Round 12 that has Herlihy excited for the fixture.
“In terms of importance, our back was against the wall because we were six goals down at halftime,” he said.
“I think the Portarlington of old; it probably would have been the one that rolled over.
“So a bit of maturity in the group, and you can see that progression that we come out, we had a really good third quarter.
“And again, we doubled down in the fourth quarter and run over the top of them, which was good.
Port has made one change, welcoming back Mitch Howard for the injured Kalan Dart.
The Warriors’ defence has been boosted by the inclusion of the experienced Matt Farrelly and former Grovedale captain Brady Campi.
They replace Tom Duncan (ankle) and Jack Graham.
Queenscliff (1st, 10-2) has named Barwon Heads (4th, 8-3) premiership player Charlie Brauer to make his club debut against his former team in the crucial clash at Queenscliff Recreation Reserve.
Brauer was the youngest member of the Seagulls’ drought-breaking 2019 flag and was among the best players when they claimed the 2022 premiership.
He’s made six appearances in the Coutas’ reserves after not playing since 2023.
Queenscliff has also included Jayden McHenry, Max Waight, Jake Lindrea and Nat Stephens.
Marshall Rippon (ACL), Jonty Rush (hamstring), Luke Ford, Tyler Monahan and Isaac McCabe go out of the team that lost to Torquay before the bye.
The Seagulls are coming off double bye, have made five changes.
St Joseph’s recruit Kye Smith is battling a foot issue, Mitch Jensen and Charlie Hurst are unavailable, and Josef Fanelli and Harry Prout have been omitted.
James Callaway, James Allen, Marley Cornell, Ollie Poon and Luca Vella are the inclusions.
Newcomb (6th, 6-5), which faces premiership contender Geelong Amateur (2nd, 10-2) at KFC Oval, will be without Harry Fraser for the rest of the season.
The Geelong West GFNL recruit requires surgery on a damaged meniscus.
He’s been replaced by veteran ruck Jarrod Stafford as the Power chase rare consecutive wins at Queens Park.
The Pegs have named James Hickey, Hugh Goddard, Tom Zeitz and debutant Fidel Seignor, but will be without key defender Dan Weig (shoulder) until after next week’s bye.
Lachie Devine and Xavier Muhor are unavailable.
Drysdale (8th, 3-9) will be strengthened by the return of experienced duo Tim Delaney and Lauchie Dalgleish as it prepares to take on Surf Coast (11th, 1-11) at Summertime Pools Oval.
Declan Foley, James Robbins, and Jackson Payne also return.
They replace the unavailable Sam Willatt and omitted quartet Luke Chapman, Callan Atkinson, Mitch Clark, and Ollie Hudson.
The Suns will be without key forward Aaron Black due to Geelong VFL commitments, while Tommy Stephen and Luke Cartelli are also missing.
Zac Warne, Tim Lee, and gun youngster Riley Cotter are among the inclusions.
Anglesea (5th, 7-5), Ocean Grove (10th, 3-9), and Torquay (3rd, 9-3) all have byes.
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