Senior Men’s League Match Report – Round 1

Unfortunately Sturt jumped out of the blocks with the first 3 goals of the game with strong physicality and work rate before we settled. They continued the quarter coughing up another 3 goals late for it to be 1 goal to 6 at quarter time. We tried to settle the players at the break & I thought they responded well over the next two and a half quarters working their way back into the game. At the 15 minute mark of the last quarter we got the margin back to 16 points & kept Sturt scoreless for the quarter. I was thinking then if we got the next goal we were a sneaky chance of running them down!

Sturt kicked the next goal from an easy free against which was disappointing and it seemed to take the wind out of our sails as they lifted again kicking the next 3 & pulled away to a 43 point win.

There were lots of positives and learnings for us and clearly we need to start better & play more consistently over 4 quarters, which should give us a better chance of winning. I loved the way the players dug deep after quarter time to stay in the contest. This is something we can build on going forward. Lachlan Squire’s game in the midfield was a breakout for him with 22 touches, 3 goals, 7 tackles & 6 clearances to be our best. Kaiden Brand was also very good, especially his aerial presence & defensive experience along with Josh Ryan, Logan Hill, Nic Couroupis on debut & Lyndon Hupfeld defended strongly.

Other contributors were Jordon Boyle, Connor Fairlie & Jackson Edwards on the wings, Pat Fairlie, Mitch Maguire & Josh Carmichael through the middle with our forwards perhaps a bit starved of opportunity.

Going forward we’ll get more from Keough, Ellem & Gore on the scoreboard plus hopefully Hamish Hartlett gets passed as fit to play this week and we go to Centrals ready to take on the big challenge out there! Hope to see you then!

Brad Gotch
League Coach