THEY know they can do it.
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All season Lamar Mallory has been able to see what the Albury-Wodonga Bandits are capable of.
It wasn’t until last weekend though, that Mallory’s vision (and that of head coach Brad Chalmers) came to fruition.
Steady offensive contributions and improved defence led to Mallory earning SEABL Team of the Week honours after the Bandits turned their poor form around and won two games on the road last weekend.
The improved performance, which Mallory attributed to a lift across the board from his teammates, thrust the Bandits back into the finals race and out of the doldrums.
Impressive as they were, Mallory is well aware that those two victories aren’t the be all and end all.
Nothing beats a home win, and the explosive forward is painfully aware of the Bandits’ awful record at the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre this season.
It’s a wrong he’s hoping to right against the Bendigo Braves this weekend.
“I think we stressed defence more than anything, and it showed in the result,” he said.
“I want to see that energy shift week by week, I want us to be able to keep playing together, keep playing as a unit.
“We need to just get it done.”
Mallory said the Bandits had used the bye two weeks ago to hit the ground running in the second half of the season.
Now that they’re back in the hunt for the top eight, the exciting import said it was time for the team to make good on their potential.
“We know we have something special,” he said.
“It’s the energy and the effort that we all want to make sure we put into each other.
“This game is important, we all want to see the result of all the work we’ve been putting in – the training, the talking to each other, learning our strengths and our weaknesses.
“Especially since we haven’t won a few home games in a row, I’m just hoping the wins from last weekend shift into this weekend and we just get it done.”
A fully-fit Daniel Sepokas was also key in last weekend’s success, while in a peculiar statistic, Sawyer Dearborn played his first back-to-back for the club.
Bendigo hold 8th place on the ladder.
Tip-off against the Braves is at 8pm.
