When the best is yet to come

The 12.11 (83) to 10.9 (69) victory was better than our one over the Sharks in round eight, particularly in defence.

To keep East Fremantle to 10 goals on a day conducive to scoring was fantastic.

The most pleasing part was to see senior players like Jay Van Berlo, Andrew Strijk and Dan Hunt step up their leadership roles in the absence of captain Jason Salecic and vice captain Ray Bartholomew.

But there were still some disappointing aspects to the match.

We went inside-50 56 times for only 12 goals ” that’s not good enough. We should have been ahead by a lot more and it allowed them to come back hard in the last quarter. The players will be looking for a more convincing effort against Subiaco at Arena Joondalup this Saturday.

I watched the Lions play last weekend and they were terrible in their 47-point loss to Swan Districts. They’ll be looking to make amends for that loss.

We need to keep in my mind they’re the only team to have beaten Claremont this season.

Matt Johnson strained a hamstring against the Sharks so he won’t be playing this weekend.

Kody Manning may come back into the side after playing in the reserves last week.

He looks to have recovered well from the knee injury he suffered at training last month. A few senior players are out at the moment, so some maturity from the younger players is needed.