Weekly Times | AFTER missing last year’s Central Highlands league finals, Ballan kicked off its season with a 59-point win against Creswick yesterday.
The surface at Doug Lindsay Reserve showed no signs of the drainage issues that have plagued it since Creswick shifted there in 2012, as the Blues overran the Wickers 17.15 (117) to 9.4 (58).
Last year, under Hawthorn premiership player Mark Williams in his first full season as coach, the Blues finished ninth.
In the off-season they have added some class to their line up, especially in former Box Hill and Colac star Marcus Crook, who was outstanding in his Blues debut.
The Wickers, under coach Damian Lubeek who coached them in 2011 and 2012, stayed within striking distance of Ballan for the first half, trailing by one point at quarter time and only 10 points at the main break.
But after half-time Ballan put the foot down, kicking four of the next five goals and were 32 points up going into the last change.
The Blues kept the pressure on throughout the last quarter, extending their lead and ultimately winning comfortably.
Williams — who played out the game at full forward — kicked five goals to kickstart his fourth season at Ballan.
“In the playing group I think they had that mindset that with these new personnel coming in they’ll take the slack and forgot about all the hard work that got us in this position,” Williams said.
“In saying that as well I think that group that played together today had only played one game for an hour-and-a-half together so it’s our first hit out and it took us two quarters to hit our straps, which we can’t afford to do but it’s pleasing we ran the game out.”
Williams wants the Blues to carry the same mindset into Round 2 with Ballan to host Bungaree on Saturday.
“In the past the culture that has been at this football club is we come off a really good win and think that’s just going to roll over into next week and forget about all the hard work that we put in to implement the game play,” he said.