Having a full preseason and being able to start playing from Round One is doing wonders for Ben Davis, who is impressing for the SANFL Crows.
After missing a lot of the 2017 season with a foot injury, playing every game of the SANFL season has been important for Davis and he’s made the most of it too, leading the Crows goalkicking with 11 goals.
It was exciting for Davis to get underway in Round One this year.
“It was a good feeling, I’ve had a lot of runs in history where I haven’t actually played Round One because of injury and things like that,” Davis said.
“So, to play Round One this year was actually really good because I haven’t done that in a while.
“I definitely can feel the difference in the games, running them out, having a lot more fitness coming in and playing games with a full preseason under my belt.”
It has been a tough first half to the season for the SANFL Crows, who are winless after eight rounds.
However, having seen glimpses of the teams’ best football, Davis is sure a four-quarter performance is not far away.
“We have been battling a bit, but there have been good bits of play that we’ve done in the SANFL,” Davis said.
“As a team, we obviously haven’t performed as well as we can, but there’s been times where we’ve showed our best is good enough.
“At the moment for us, we are just working on our fundamentals and making sure we stick to the basics of footy.
“It’s just a matter of us doing our fundamentals well and all playing our role, then we will get that end result, which is what we are working on at the moment.”
Davis himself has been creating quite the highlights package this season, with a couple of big marks and clever goals so far, including a big hanger on the wing during their last match against West Adelaide.
“I’ve always liked to fly for my marks and everyone likes to kick a goal when they can,” Davis said.
“One of my strengths I like to think is my athleticism, so I just like to play to that and fly for my marks, and sometimes I come down with them, sometimes I don’t.
“If there is a highlights package that is getting developed then that’s good, but I just like to play to my strengths.”
The SANFL Crows will return against Woodville-West Torrens this Saturday afternoon, after having their bye in Round Nine.
