After a week off we travelled to Port Melbourne on a cool but mostly sunny morning to take on PMSM.
With only 16 boys to pick from due to injuries and school commitments, our backs were against the wall to start the day. It was evident during the warm up that we had a few lads not focused for the first bounce and it showed for the whole first 1/4. We were very fortunate that our opposition had missed some shots at goal and that we only 20 points down at 1/4 time.
5 fwd entries to 15.
2 scoring shots – 7
After a brief talking to, the boys responded well in the 2nd 1/4. We straight lined the ball, had ball security, created shape & looked to change lanes and move the opposition around. More effort and commitment was shown and we got on top of the opposition. Our backline was tight and repelled just about everything, mids played closer to their opponents and slowly got on top & the fwd line moved to create space and kept presenting at the ball. Unlucky not to be in front at 1/2 time.
10 fwd entries – 8.
6 scoring shots – 2
3rd 1/4 started well, we were winning more contests around the ground, but just couldn’t convert our effort into scoreboard pressure. We hit the lead briefly, then let the oppo back in late in the 1/4 and they piled on 4 goals that didn’t reflect how we played, but in Div 1, you need to play for the whole 20 mins of every quarter.
12 fwd entries- 6
3.8.26 – 7.8.50
The last quarter would require a huge effort from the team. To the boys credit, they gave it their all. We were playing against a side that had 7 players on their bench and they had plenty of fresh legs available. Once again we had all the momentum early in the 1/4 and we were edging closer with some good passages of play. Our backline, lead by Shahaf was superb once again, stopping certain goals, great defensive punches, tackling and driving the ball back out our way. The backline held the opposition to 6 points as we kicked 3.2 and unlucky not to have a few more on the board. In the last 5 minutes, the team were running out of legs, but the group kept fighting till the end.
10 fwd entries each.
6.10.46 – 7.14.56
The first quarter effort was not acceptable. Bring the correct mindset to every match and control what we can control.
