Winchelsea coach Christian Shaw is expecting a bounce-back game from upcoming opponents Geelong West after the Giants suffered a surprise loss to Corio last weekend.
The Blues sit just outside the top five on percentage, having won three of their opening five games.
Shaw said he expected a return to form from the Giants, who have lost its last two games against Thomson and Corio.
“They’ll be disappointed internally, the results of the first five weeks probably haven’t gone their way, they probably expected more wins on the board,” he said.
“I think they’ll be fine, they’ve had some injury challenges or concerns so they’ll get some key personnel back, they’ll still play finals.
“We know at some stage that they’ll come out and make a real statement, and we’re expecting that this week.
Winchelsea coach Christian Shaw. Picture: supplied
“We’re sitting where we thought we would be, this three week block of games, starting with Inverleigh and East Geelong, and then with Geelong West this week, we looked at it at the start of the year and thought these would be the top three sides of the competition.
“We knew it was going to be a hard period of footy but we set the expectation that if we could get two of the three we’d be in a really good spot and in that conversation for one of those teams fighting for finals.”
The Blues are currently 1-1 through the three-game stretch, having defeated Inverleigh and lost to East Geelong in the past fortnight of football.
Winchelsea is hoping to welcome back a number of key Blues in the coming weeks, with Caleb Brown yet to feature this season, while Brayden O’Hanlon has not played since round 2 with a rib issue and Riley Berg has managed just two games.
It is unlikely the Blues give games to their injured star trio, with Winchelsea scheduled to play just one game between May 21 and June 16.
Shaw said it was difficult for the group to gather cohesion and consistency with players coming in and out each week.
“We’re going well, the gelling part is probably the hardest thing to bed down,” he said.
“We’re probably five or six senior guys out of the senior side, so what the team is going to look like in five or six weeks time is different to what it looks like now.
“We’re probably not going to see Caleb until after the double bye that we have coming up, Brayden is one where we will discuss whether it’s worth getting him back before then too.
“Riley is probably after the double bye as well, so we’re still a few weeks away from having our best guys playing together.”