By: Hayden Tilbrook
RINGWOOD dethroned Mitcham and claimed top spot in Division 2 with a 13.3 (81) to 10.10 (70) victory in Round 9.
After recording an undefeated 2018 home and away season, the Redbacks stumbled out of the blocks in 2019 with consecutive losses followed by a draw in Round 3.
Having lost 1116 SEN Division 3 Team of the Year players Trent Farmer and Ben Power, many had assumed Ringwood’s form over the first three rounds was not just an anomaly, but the beginning of a club in decline.
But following the victory at Walker Park, the Redbacks now find themselves perched atop the ladder on a six-game win streak.
Redbacks senior coach Brett Rowe told EFL Sunday that it was just a matter of time before the players regained ‘trust’ in each other and returned to playing winning football.
“When I spoke to you last time (following Ringwood’s first win of the season in Round 4) it was all about trying to get the side to gel,” Rowe said.
“We recruited obviously some new players, we’d lost some quality players and it was just going to take some time for everyone to start getting the way we play.
“Slowly but surely the guys have (gelled) as a group … and I think over the weeks the confidence has just grown.
“The trust in each other again is back, especially in the new guys. They know how we play.”
Critics could be excused for having thought that Ringwood’s offensive output would take a nosedive with the departure of Trent Farmer, who accounted for 62 goals in 2018.
But at the conclusion of Round 9, the Redbacks have scored an averaged 82 points per game, only a fraction less than 89 at the same point last season.
With 17 different goal-scorers this season, the Ringwood coach said the group had to rethink the way it went forward in order to maintain their scoring production.
“We knew with Trent not playing this year, that we had to find … new avenues to goal,” Rowe said.
“We made a real focus on how we come forward with the ball, and it’s given us a bit of unpredictability about ourselves going forward.
“And that’s the beauty of it … we’re getting good spread from our playing group. A couple of weeks ago … we had 11 individual goal-scorers.”
A feature of the Redbacks’ mid-season revival has been the club’s incredible efficiency in front of goal.
Another prudent effort against Mitcham helped the new league-leaders snatch the 11-point victory despite having four fewer scoring shots than their opponent.
Ringwood has now kicked a combined 56.25 in its past four encounters.
“We’re just having a good run at the moment with how we’re kicking for goal,” Rowe said.
“The only practice we do is the boys having a kick before we start. That’s probably about it.”
Ringwood will look to open up some breathing space at the top of the ladder in Round 10, as it hosts The Basin in a second instalment of the fixture that ended in a 69-69 stalemate in Round 3.
