By Marcus Uhe
The Bombers are flying, but their feet remain well-and-truly on the ground.
Saturday’s hard fought 28-point win over Healesville ensured Emerald’s unblemished start to the season continued, sitting two games clear of Berwick Springs at the top of the Division One ladder.
Their inaccuracy (12.21) restricted the margin from blowing out too far, but Sean Clearihan’s side led at every break to keep Healesville at bay.
Noah Van Haren was the star for Emerald, kicking four, outshining the key forward pairing of David Johnson and Callum White, who kicked two each.
Having set the benchmark in the competition to date, Clearihan feels sides are steeling themselves for the opportunity to bring them back to the pack.
“What you find out when you’re in this position is that sides play above themselves too, because they want to challenge you, and that’s what we’ve got to expect, to be challenged all the time,” he said.
“I think that’s what they’re embracing.
“We’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks that sides have come really hard at us and we’ve absorbed that, and we trust our system.
“We’re getting tested all the time and sooner or later sides are going to try to work us out.
“We’re just got to make sure that we’re one step ahead of them on that front.”
Saturday’s third quarter was one such challenge for the highest scoring team in the competition as it was held to just a single major, but critically they kept Healesville goalless to maintain their buffer.
Clearihan described that period as an “arm-wrestle” and was proud of his side’s ability to withstand the heat.
“Someone was trying to get that edge and no one would give,” he said.
“To Healesville’s credit, they really fought the battle, they came hard at us and to our boys’ credit they really weathered the storm.
“But we’re learning now that you’re not going to win games with five minutes of footy.
“Sometimes it’s going to take four quarters and I said to them, you’ve just got to grind this one out, stick to our structures and have that belief in one-another that we’ll get over the line.”
Spearheaded by the leaders, the playing group are growing closer and more connected by the day, and the trust in one-another is translating to results.
Rather than fear what’s next, the leaders are welcoming the fight and the pressure that comes with being top-dog.
But, Clearihan is keeping them grounded, ensuring the focus is week-to-week rather than looking too far ahead.
The Bombers currently find themselves in a five-week period where they’ll only take the field twice, as a result of a split round, a bye, and the King’s birthday long weekend.
Memories of last year, in which they won seven of their first eight before only winning three of their last 10 after the long weekend, loom large.
The hope is that the hard lessons learnt in 2022 will not be forgotten the longer this campaign continues.
“We’re under no illusions of what we’ve got to do, but that’s miles away,” Clearihan said.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we do and hopefully we get there.
“We’re very wary that we were in the same spot last year and we only won four or five games after that.
“We’re under no illusions whatsoever.”
