Newtown & Chilwell coach Steve Johnson concedes his team “haven’t played near our best football” in recent weeks, with injuries testing the club’s playing stocks in the depths of winter.
The Eagles still sit comfortably inside the top five with a 9-3 win-loss record, two wins clear of Colac and Leopold.
However, Johnson says the Towners need to tidy up their starts in the run to September.
Only once in their last five outings have they led at quarter-time, and only once at the main break.
“There’s a lot of people talking about the competition, and how uneven it can be,” Johnson told K rock Football’s Beyond the Boundary podcast.
“But really, I only think that’s one or two teams down the bottom.
“St Albans were very good against us for a half, which they have been against other teams. I identified that before we played them.
“They challenged South Barwon for a half.
“Grovedale were pretty competitive against us as well.
“And Geelong West, they challenged us and took it right up to us. It took a really strong third quarter for us to overrun them.
“The worry for me is we haven’t been starting our games well at all.
“That goes back to St Albans. It goes back to Geelong West, Colac where we were really poor, so that’s something that we need to try and turn around otherwise… we’ll get burnt towards the back end of the year as well.”
Gennaro Bove has been sidelined since Round 1, while Johnson currently can’t consider recruit Nick Jephson and reliable defender Alex Dunn.
It follows medium-term issues for Ben Pennisi, who made his Geelong VFL debut last week, and recruit Taj McMillan earlier in the season.
“We’ve had to challenge the depth of our list in recent weeks, and we haven’t played anywhere near our best football and (were) beaten by Joeys on the weekend, who had quite a few serious injuries.
“We had a couple ourselves, but we know that we need to get the players back into our team at the right time of the year as well if we want to compete against the best teams.”
Nick Coughlan, who joined Newtown & Chilwell as an assistant coach in the off-season, made his senior debut for the club after three appearances in the reserves against St Joseph’s.
However, the former St Kilda rookie and Werribee VFL captain suffered a hamstring injury early in the contest.
Johnson says Coughlan, who missed out on leading Werribee’s 2024 premiership due to what was diagnosed as an Achilles issue, got a second opinion on the issue earlier this year.
“The surgeon that he went and saw this time said, “It’s actually not your Achilles, it’s a bone spur that your Achilles is rubbing on. You’re not completely dead and buried’.
“He’d had some soft tissue injuries in the past, but it was within four to six weeks of having that bone spur shaved off that he was back running and (he) basically put an AI recovery program together for himself.
He’s a pretty smart sort of dude.
“And then he was presenting to start training, and then I was kind of like, ‘Alright, this is serious.
“(He) played some handy football in the reserves. He played three (and) in his last game against Geelong West, he kicked seven and took some great contested marks.
“Look, it was hard to not play him on the weekend, even though I would have probably, in hindsight, would have liked to have maybe played him a couple more because he hurt his hamstring pretty early in that game on the weekend, which didn’t help us.”
Coughlan is one of four outs from last week ahead of the clash with the winless North Shore at Jardon Oval.
The Eagles will also go in without co-captain Luke Maddock, big man Cam Wilkinson, and forward Jedd Coburn.
Dodos looks set to return from injury, while Oscar Murdoch has also been named in their squad.
The Seagulls have lodged four changes, with under-18 duo Chase Johns and Luke House named to make their senior debuts, while Luca Mamone and Harper Curtis return.
They replace Jak King, who suffered a knock to the kidneys last week and will miss the remainder of the season, unavailable duo Oscar McCausland and Jack O’Brien, and Cameron Hase, who returns to the Seagulls’ finals-bound under-18 team.
South Barwon (2nd, 9-4) has made just the one change for its mouthwatering matchup with St Joseph’s (5th, 9-4) at McDonald Reserve.
The Swans welcome back young gun Zach Stevens as the replacement for last week’s debutant Archie Daffy, who returns to school football.
Joeys will be without Jack Mullen (knee), Hunter Lewis (broken wrist) and Fletcher Pulleine, whose senior debut in the win over Newtown & Chilwell came to an early end after suffering a broken leg.
They’ve been replaced by big man Ed McCoy, who missed the gritty win over Newtown & Chilwell, the recalled Charlie Clark, and debutant Charlie Gray.
Gray has made 11 appearances for the Geelong Falcons at Talent League level this year.
When the two teams last met, South handed out a 104-point Anzac Day hiding.
St Mary’s (1st, 11-1) will be boosted by the return of talisman Paddy Dowling for his first appearance since Round 11 when the premiership favourite takes on Bell Park (4th, 9-4) at Hi Sushi Oval.
However, the Saints will be without defensive general Ryan Pendlebury, who has coaching commitments with Geelong’s AFLW team.
The Dragons have made three forced changes, losing Fred Lucas (shoulder), Jacob Nihill (elbow) and Rhys McWaters (corkie).
They’ve been replaced by Ayden Osborne, Finn Hoey and Charlie Trezise.
St Albans (9th, 3-9) and Geelong West (10th, 2-11) have both named debutants for their clash at St Albans Reserve.
Ocean Grove recruit Jackson Stephenson will feature at senior level with the Supersaints for the first time.
He is one of four inclusions, with Matt McKenzie available, Harrison Howarth to make his first senior appearance of the year, and Bailey Coutts recalled from the reserves.
Joe Osborne and Hamish Andrews are unavailable, Ethan Guida is suspended, and Ethan Hobbs is battling illness.
The Giants have included Harley Smigowski, the brother of Brady, and Marcus Moorse.
Smigowski is a graduate of the club’s under-18s, while Moorse last played with Murray league club Deniliquin in 2024 before joining West this year.
Daniel Cole and Luke Wittman are back for the Giants, who will be missing Lachie Horniblow (injured), Riley Moore (concussion) and the unavailable Will Nicholls and Jay Kaltenbach.
Leopold (7th, 7-6) will welcome back Mason Williams from Geelong VFL duty for its virtual elimination final against Colac (6th, 7-6) at Australian Lamb Company Stadium.
He replaces Max Chambers.
The Tigers have named Jack Skinner for his first appearance since Round 8 among up to five changes.
Aaron Walters, Leigh Gorwell, Max Buchanan and veteran Kane Smartt have also been included in their squad.
Grovedale (8th, 4-9) has the bye.
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