Coaches Report - Round 3
ROCS vs Eastern Park
A Grade Report - R3
Eastern Park handled the difficult conditions far better than we did and played their home ground well. Our kicking at goal let us down badly and we struggled all day for any cohesion up forward. We did play better in the second half but our skill errors sabotaged any chances we had of making an impression on the scoreboard. They were too powerful and too skilled for us and put us under a lot of physical pressure.A couple of serious injuries early didn't help our cause. Better players were Will O'Malley, James Jordan, Scott Gilbert, Scott Paul, Ryan Holm and Anthony Medhurst. We need a much improved mental and physical effort this week against Athelstone.
Tim Hart
A Grade Coach
B Grade Report - R3
Eastern Park were always going to be a tough assignment out at Elizabeth particularly after making 6 changes from a side that was pretty settled for the first 2 rounds. None of the side had ever ventured there to play a game of footy and when assessing the match, mentally it looked like a few of us didn't really want to be there. Having said all that I thought we dominated general field play but with our 2 key forwards from the first 2 games, we struggled to move inside 50 with any efficiency and our lack of forward line pressure saw the ball come out with relative ease. We weren't able to generate any run and creativity through the midfield which had been our signature and the howling wind saw us continually make simple skill errors and turn the ball over by being caught out of position. Too many players drifted in and out of the game and other than Tom Moore who was terrifically competitive, our big blokes did not contribute at all. Our experienced players in Mark Green, Nadeem Shadiac, Trent Versace and Chuck Norris were steady contributors all day and Tom Taylor and Chris Ash were strong bodied and tried to create moving forward. Our backline lead by Captain Bannister was solid again, however the majority of attacks came from their half back line as our forwards let the ball out of our forward line too easy. The pleasing thing and the improvement in the group from last year is that we were able to scrap our way to being within a goal at 3 qtr time. Unfortunately they wanted it more and were used to using the breeze and finished more strongly.
For us to improve we need to be ready to play anywhere in any conditions, too many of our young blokes panicked with the footy causing basic turnovers and when you are continually turning the ball over midfield then you will get hurt on the counter attack. We also need to improve our concentration and stay in the game not drift in and out and compete when we feel like it. The test is to learn and improve from last week and for everyone to contribute no matter how big the oval is and what the weather conditions are and who the opposition is.
Peter Pedersen
B Grade Coach
C Grade Report - R3
Coming off a strong performance in round 2, the C's were brought back to earth with a thud by a strong Eastern Park team. The C's commitment and effort was again sound but poor decision making, poor skills and an inability to win the clearances were decisive.
The positives came predominantly from the resilient backline . Paul Whitford played a trendous game at full back, Luke Kelly and Brendon Edson generated great drive and run across half back, Corey McDonald persisted all day and Alex Sawley presented well at CHF.
All in all a disappointing result for the C's but we must now put that behind us and prepare well for the game against Wingfield.
Mick Borrillo
C Grade Coach
