Haisman Shield | Old Students out to round bend by beating Blues

While the next run of fixtures isn’t easier per se, Saracino knows beating the Blues will add a strong gust to his side’s sails heading into matches against Karramomus, Shepparton United and Tatura.

“For us, we knew what the first five rounds were going to look like in terms of difficulty,” Saracino said.

“We are taking it week by week; if we win on Saturday, we’ll be two and two with a draw, which is fantastic in my view.

“But no game is easy in this competition — we look at every game as winnable but know that means other teams look at us the same way.”

Numurkah won’t be looking to be one of the ‘winnable’ quotients in Saracino’s equation.

Dylan Grandell’s men have only completed two Haisman fixtures so far this season, and head to Kialla Park with a recent loss and a hunger to remedy it building a sizeable fire in the side’s belly.

Saracino is wary of the threat, and knows Old Students must sharpen up a touch if they are to cut through Numurkah come Saturday.

“We’ll continue to work on what we call growth areas; our bowling needs work and we have been looking to restrict our extras in training,” he said.

“The batting aspect has been reasonable; making 170-plus against Kyabram was a positive so I think we have to make above that to be competitive.

“If we bat first we’ll look to bat out our overs, if we bowl first we want to consistently bowl good lines on one side of the wicket.”

Saracino singled out Connor Hangan, saying the middle-order weapon had “taken his game to a new level” while also praising Luke McPhillamy’s consistency.

The Students’ leader then went on to speak on the club’s position, and said sowing the seeds for future prosperity ranked much higher than instant success on his list of priorities.

“We know where we are at as a club — we’re looking to develop our juniors as part of a long-term plan,” he said.

“In the short term, of course, we want to win every game — but also understand where we’re situated.”