Hi everyone,
Let’s call it an aberration, let’s call it school holidays…today was not a great performance.
We had an opportunity today to cement ourselves in 4th spot and we were playing against the team that was also vying for this coveted 4th spot…Waverley Park.
Simple instructions…70 tackles minimum and we win the game! They will handball forwards and run so don’t let them; kick long with the wind into the corridor.
The result? 48 tackles; they ran relentlessly and continued to handball forwards; we chipped with the wind and didn’t kick long until 5 min to go in the match!! A 6 goal loss!
Today we got a lesson in how hard to run, how hard to work, how easy to break our tackles & how to follow instructions. They simply wanted the ball much more than us.
Here are a few damning statistics for all to ponder: 8 players got less than 10 possessions; only 7 players (out of 20) got more than 10 possessions for the entire game; 3 players did not lay one tackle; 7 players laid 2 or less tackles; only 2 players laid 5 or more tackles.
Consider these old timeless sayings: Nothing in life comes easily; Never get ahead of yourself; The harder I work, the luckier I get; make it happen…how well do these sayings stack up against our performance today?
You boys are so much better than you showed today…I KNOW IT…and the great thing is we get 4 more weeks for you to prove to us and show us how good you really are.
Awards today:
James Larkworthy – stunning first quarter with 5 marks, a screamer and an emotional goal…8 marks for the match and a perfect forward target…incredibly brave performance Larkers
Frank Morris – hard and disciplined all day but the chase down tackle!!…inspirational!
Jack Bell – 18 possessions, 5 marks, 5 tackles and a goal…terrific all round game
Other special mentions: Josh Le Grice & Louis Butler – nearly 30 possessions each with 6 & 4 tackles respectively…gave their all and showed the frustration of not wanting to lose!
Let’s be annoyed with ourselves for this effort (or lack of effort) today and work hard on the track to improve the things we were not good at today.
This week we have Malcom Bangs (tackling expert) returning to training to give us a refresher session on tackling…and don’t we need it!!!
I hope to see as many of you as possible at training on Wednesday at 6pm – 7.30pm at Castlefield. If you missed the tackling session last time I urge you to make a special effort to get there this week.
Cheers,
Ralph Bergman
