North Ballarat will face its first top four opponent of the Ballarat Cricket Association first grade as the season resumes on Saturday.
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The Roosters are undefeated and on top of the ladder, but its biggest scalp is Napoleons-Sebastopol – which has just one win to its name in seventh position.
There might be doubters...that doesn’t really worry us.
- Captain Adam Eddy
It will travel to Wendouree this weekend to take on the third-placed reigning premiers.
The Roosters’ five wins have come against the three bottom sides, but captain Adam Eddy is not paying any attention to anyone questioning North Ballarat’s standing on the BCA ladder. Believing his group has worked extremely hard to find itself in the position it is, after finishing seventh last season.
“That doesn’t really worry us, you can only play who you are up against,” Eddy said.
“There might be doubters until we beat one of those teams in the top four, but the way the fixture works we don’t play the top four until the end of the year.
“Even though we played some of the lower teams at the start of the season, we had to work pretty hard.
“We’ve put a lot of work into it, so there’s not a whole lot of luck that has gone into it.”
Eddy said the group was eager to take on the Red Caps, looking forward to what will be its biggest challenge of the season.
“Everyone’s pretty pumped. Wendouree’s the team to chase because they’re the premiers from last year, everyone wants to make sure they put in a good performance against them.
“It’ll be a good challenge for both of us I think.
“We’ve just got to make sure we get enough wins to make finals.”
The Roosters are continuing their “one week at a time” mantra that has served it well throughout the season.
The rise in form has not surprised Eddy, confident from the outset after a strong recruiting season and improved training application.
Eddy said he was pleased with the level of consistency the group had produced, praising the group for following through on what it had set out to do.
“You can talk about it, but it takes a fair bit to actually do it.
“I think we’ve been rewarded for the hard work that we’ve done.”
Eddy said there would be minimal change to the side that defeated Ballarat-Redan, but Jason Crosbie has been named for the Roosters.
Equally, Wendouree will be looking forward to the challenge.
While there is no question mark whether or not it can get the job done against quality opponents, it is a different side to last year and will be hoping to knock-off a top side – currently holding an 1-2 record against the top four teams.
If the Red Caps can produce the goods on Saturday, they will likely move above North Ballarat on the ladder, with percentage the only question.