We travelled down Nepean Hwy to take on Mordi Brae at Parkdale. Our opposition have had a great start to their season in Div 1 so it was going to be a great test for our boys to see how the team would handle the speed and pressure of Division 1 football. Our pre game focus was the same as previous weeks but also to expect a frantic and non forgiving first 10 mins.
Mordi Brae were kicking with the aid of a very handy breeze in the first 1/4. The first 10-15 mins was as expected, fast, frantic and unforgiving football. Some big tackles, Sam P 2 tackles in the first 30 seconds of the game and both half backlines were on top. Then Mordi Brae settled, started to hit targets by foot, split us open through the middle and deliver well into their fwd line. Mordi Brae’s fwd line were constantly moving our defence around and finding space as good fwds do and their mids were hitting the contest hard and putting their heads over the ball.
Well done to our back 6 for hanging on. The ball was coming in quick and without pressure.
Fwd Entries (FE) 5 – 14
0.2.2 – 6.2.38
1/4 time and let’s refocus and start again. Defence to play tighter when they had the ball, spread and attack when we had it, mids the same as def and fwds to get “busy”, keep fwdline open but watch their defenders when they had the ball. Once again we matched our oppo for most of the 1/4. We missed our chances in front of goal and we missed targets by hand and foot. Mordi Brae was the opposite, they hit targets and converted their chances in front of the big sticks. FE 8 – 9
2.5.17 – 9.3.57
1/2 time
We spoke about the pre game messages and our game style. We had been competitive for 30 of the 40 mins. We just had lapses of concentration, cannot do that in div 1. The aim was to hold Mordi Brae as tight as we could, try and get a quick couple of goals into the wind and come home with the breeze. Once again it was a repeat of the first two quarters. We were matching our opposition but just not using the ball as clean as them. We had chances to rebound out of the backline with some ball security, but div 1 pressure seemed to be getting the better of our boys and we kept handing the ball back to Mordi Brae on the wings. FE 4 – 13
2.5.17 – 13.7.85
3/4 time
All attack. Try and use the corridor, look for the 45-90 kick and use them, head over the ball, take a bump, ball security and leave the fwdline open. Unfortunately the 1/4 was a repeat of the whole game. We just couldn’t sustain the div 1 pressure for the whole quarter. We missed our chances and the opposition took theirs. Welcome back to Div 1. FE 7-9
4.8.32 – 15-10.100
In the end, Mordi Brae played the game the way we want to play. It was a good lesson for our group. We just need to tighten up on a few things and sustain our pressure for 20 mins not just 15 mins. We still have a lot of improvement left in our game but we have to be ready to work hard to get there ASAP.
Thank you to the boys below that had to play 2 games on Sunday, never easy and we thank you again.
Presley Evans
Toby Golding
Jack Kennedy
Ryan Lewis
Ethan Liu
Liam Riedel
Christian Sallabank
Benjo Wells
Zac Zeising
