THE top five State League teams appear to be sorting themselves out from the rest of the competition and putting their hands up as potential finalists as the TSL heads into this week’s bye in the roster.
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Glenorchy, Burnie, North Launceston, Lauderdale and Devonport have been the ones to impress over the first five rounds of the season.
Hobart City, Clarence, Launceston, Tigers and Western Storm fill out the bottom five spots with the biggest surprise being the lack of success for the Roos and the Storm so far this season after playing off in last year’s preliminary final.
Glenorchy remains undefeated but has yet to play any of the three Northern teams that make the top five.
North Launceston heads into the bye with a 4-1 record which coach Zane Littlejohn was happy about.
‘‘I have mentioned to the players that early wins are really important and we’ve won both our blocks now which is good and was our goal,’’ he said.
‘‘We aim to tick the boxes and win blocks of footy and if we do that we believe it will get us into a situation we need to be in at the end of the year.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us and we’re realists and understand that you don’t win or play in grand finals now but have to do the work to get there.
‘‘We’re not playing our best footy yet so to get to the turn at 4-1 is really pleasing for our group and should give them some confidence moving forward.’’
Things are not looking as bright for Launceston and Western Storm with neither coach happy about their performances on Saturday.
Launceston coach Scott Stephens questioned his players’ attitude to their football after they were taught a lesson by Glenorchy.
‘‘I think we are second from bottom on the ladder and that’s probably where we deserve to be,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve had two good performances against our cross-town rivals but our other games have been very poor.
‘‘Obviously that comes down to personnel being missing but that’s no excuse from our end – we need to be better and I put it down to an attitude thing and our boys need to get better and more professional quickly.’’
The Blues are hopeful of regaining Sonny Whiting and Tim Gibbons after the break but neither return was locked in at this stage.
Western Storm coach Mitch Hills said they needed to take a clean-slate approach after the bye.
‘‘Everybody raved during pre-season and said we are this and that but at the end of the day we are sitting on the bottom and haven’t won a game.
‘‘We have to regroup and start afresh – we know we have a good bunch of players but they need to come together and start playing for each other and if we do that we will start to win games.
‘‘We won’t be talking about finals or grand finals or last year–- it’s all about this group and this year and getting something out of it so expect a whole new team and outlook after the bye hopefully.’’
The Storm lost Bart McCulloch to a knee injury on Saturday but Hills was uncertain as to the extent of the injury.
In another blow, they will be without key midfielder Thane Bardenhagen for the next six weeks while he travels overseas.