Boom recruit Jarrah Maksymow appears set find himself in the Sunbury senior line-up as soon as Saturday.
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Maksymow gave notice in his debut for the Lions at reserves level at the weekend that he is ready to make an immediate impact at the top level on his return to the Ballarat Football League.
Sunbury squares up against Sebastopol at Clarke Oval in round 10 in a pivotal match-up for each side.
The Lions are one game outside top six and the same margin adrift of fifth-placed Sebastopol.
While stopping short of making any guarantees, Sunbury coach Travis Hodgson said Maksymow was a "reasonable chance" of going into the seniors on back of the one game.
"He showed enough."
Sunbury recruited Maksymow as the x-factor, with a view the Bacchus Marsh premiership player could be the extra ingredient to not only take the Lions into the finals but also develop into a serious premiership contender.
Pulling on the boots for the first time since lining up with Henty in the Hume league at the end of last season, Maksymow did everything expected of him and more as Sunbury defeated Ballarat by 99 points at Sunbury.
Maksymow clearly has some work to do before hitting peak match fitness, but he looked in good shape and was lively in attack and on-ball - enough to suggest he could have a major say at senior level right now.
Maksymow told The Courier that it was good to be out on the field again.
"It felt really good to be out and amongst it again," he said.
Maksymow said he struggled a bit at at the start.
"Obviously I haven't done a lot of running for the past few months.
"It was good to get back through the middle and get a bit of a touch."
He said he was looking forward to getting up and getting going, and kicking a few more goals.
Maksymow kicked four majors.
He started deep in attack and kicked a behind from a set shot with his first kick. He finished the first quarter with two goals.
Maksymow showed signs he has quickly settled in, taking a lead at the quarter time break by giving his thoughts to the player group on the Lions' early forward work.
His teammmates also rallied strongly around him each time he made a contribution, while there were also regular calls of "Jarrah" from the Sunbury faithful each time he went near the football.
Maksymow said post match that the way the club had supported him and his family had been unbelievable and already felt comfortable in the new environment.
Maksymow was only formally signed on Wednesday after Sunbury edged out Bacchus Marsh in securing his services.
Hodgson described Maksymow's first outing for Sunbury as unselfish.
"He played a team orientated game.
"He kicked 4.4 and gave off the ball to bring others into the game," Hodgson said.