Grovedale isn’t looking too far ahead in the Geelong Football League.
The Tigers sit in seventh spot after 13 rounds, just one game and percentage outside the top five.
While well and truly in contention for finals, coach Daniel Fraser said that wasn’t his side’s main focus at the moment.
“It’s the old cliche, take it one week at a time,” he said.
“We’ll just continue to try and keep on winning and let finals take care of itself. What we are about is structures and the game plan.
“We’re not looking too far ahead other than Lara this weekend.”
Fraser said the aim for the group this year had to be more competitive than they were in the 11 rounds of last season, before it was called off.
At that point the Tigers were 6-5, but had lost their last four games.
“We didn’t set a target to play finals,” he said of this year.
“The first thing was making sure we were more competitive than last season. We had a hard start to this year, but we’ve found our feet the last six weeks or so.”
The Tigers have now won six of their last eight matches, the most recent against Geelong West Giants on Saturday.
The Tigers trailed at half time by 18 points, before kicking eight goals to three in the second half, to win 12.12 (84) to 10.10 (70).
The win meant the Tigers jumped the Giants on the ladder and sit a game ahead of them.
Fraser said they had some good patches in the win.
“It was a big win with a lot at stake,” he said.
“We dropped off in the second quarter, but we were able to get it together in the second half. We were pretty happy with it.”
Jordan Erskine was the key up forward with six goals, while Matt Harvey and Jakob Lovergrove kicked two goals each.
Fraser said they needed Erskine to stand up and kick some goals and provide some leadership up forward, with both Mitch Chafer and Martin Brennan missing due to Victorian Football League commitments.
Dale Kerr, Jak Tute and Ryan Abbott were among the other standouts in the win.
The Tigers host Lara at Burdoo Reserve this Saturday.
Lara sits 11th on the ladder.
“It’s always a tough game no matter where they are on the ladder,” Fraser said.
“They gave us a bit of a fright earlier in the year. We have to play somewhere near our best football to get the win.”
In other matches this weekend, Colac Tigers host Bell Park, Newtown & Chilwell plays Geelong West Giants, North Shore will take on St Mary’s, South Barwon will play St Joseph’s and St Albans will play Leopold.
Meanwhile Grovedale’s women’s side will face the Geelong West Giants in the in the AFL Barwon division 1 Epworth Cup.
Grovedale sits fourth with two rounds remaining.
