St Mary’s get back on track

ST MARY’S co-coach Luke Rayner says confidence and consistency will be the key for his side to unlock its GFL flag hopes, after the Saints got back on track with a convincing win against St Albans.

The Saints beat the Supersaints by 124 points at Anthony Costa Oval, after dropping three of its previous four games against fellow finals hopefuls St Josephs, Colac and South Barwon.

Rayner admitted that rather than making adjustments, the team’s focus was doubling down on their gameplan to ensure consistency.

“We need to make sure that we stay really consistent as a coaching group about the way we want to play,” he said.

“Rather than focusing too much on the opposition, or focusing too much on what we can’t do necessarily, it’s more about how we keep building resilience and confidence in the way we want to play.”

St Mary’s have blooded seven new faces this season, and Rayner is confident that mixing this with their more experiences names will put them in good stead for the back end of the year.

“I think we’re well positioned. We’ve still got a really good core group of senior footballers and we’re blooding so much youth underneath that now as well,” he said.

“They’re going to be better players at the back end of this season than what they are currently.

“(We’re) still really optimistic for continued improvement, still really optimistic to keep encouraging the way we want to play, and I think our best footy can be right in the mix if all the stars align.”

The Saints sit third on the ladder with eight rounds to go, and face reigning premiers Leopold today (Sunday, July 6) at home.