Coaches Report - R8
Round 8 V Portland at home
Round 8 V Portland at home
With drizzly rain falling in patches throughout the day the match was played in slippery conditions. Consequently it was important we adjusted our game to play more direct football and quite simply get the ball going our way with the least amount of fuss. Despite the odd periods where we tended to overuse the footy or not move it as direct as we could have I thought we made this adjustment reasonably well.
Our rucks were getting first hand on the ball at stoppages and more importantly our inside midfielders were more often than not getting the first possession. This played a big part in us taking the ball inside our 50 20 more times than Portland for the match.
Our defence, led by John Corbett and Kieran Holland had excellent games and provided a lot of run and rebound as well as nullifying their direct opponents. Heath Commane was handling the slippery ball like it was a dry day and kicked very accurately for goal to finish with 8.2 for the match.
Despite winning by 67 points I still feel as though we didn’t play at our best for the full 4 quarters. For the first 15 minutes of the third quarter we seemed to lack intensity, run and we also overused the ball during this period. A couple of gutsy efforts by 19 year old Tom O’Malley looked to kicked us back into gear and get us back on track. As frustrating as those 15 minutes were it was great to see Tom show some genuine leadership and set the example for the others to follow.
Following this weekend’s bye for the June long weekend we play Port Districts as Largs. Port Districts are the only side we haven’t played yet and will mark the half way mark of the season.
Don’t forget it is the President’s Lunch this Friday at the Alma. Graham Cornes is the guest speaker and as always I’m sure it will be great afternoon. If you have the opportunity I’d encourage you to attend, I’ll see you there.
Tom Wigley
A Grade Coach
