Mandurah Mail football writer Justin Rake takes on the ups and downs of our Peel Football and Netball League in his weekly column ‘Rake’s Rave’.
It’s no secret the Waroona Demons are in unfamiliar territory.
Starting the season with four straight losses is far less than ideal for a team that has made 12 straight preliminary final appearances, and their 122-point drubbing at the hands of Mandurah in round one was an aberration.
But it seems the Demons don’t plan on residing in last for too long.
The perennial powerhouse’s results have gotten markedly closer to a win as each game has gone by, and they’ve been very good late in games over the past two weeks.
On Sunday the Demons booted four in the last quarter to come within seven points of Centrals, and the week before they piled on nine in the final term to give an improved Halls Head a scare.
Before the season began, I felt like I needed some sense slapped into me when I tipped Waroona to miss finals.
I can’t help feeling like I’m going to regret this
- Rake describing his pre-season tip for Waroona to finish sixth
If memory serves me right, the words “blasphemous” and “stupid” seemed a fitting description of the move at the time.
Now given the Demons still don’t have a win four games into the year I still feel okay about making that call, but I’m also aware that Waroona is getting very close to making me look both blasphemous and stupid.
Their improvement since round one and their competitive form in the late stages has their game against South Mandurah shaping as one of the more appetising clashes this round.
It may be fourth on the ladder taking on last, but Waroona has a good chance of snagging an unexpected victory and breaking their run of losses at Falcon Oval.