Sandringham have begun their 2011 campaign in a promising fashion, racking up two tight wins against Coburg and Frankston to the tune of three and 19 points respectively.
The first game saw the Zebras come from behind with a flurry of late goals, including one on the siren, to claim a seemingly unwinnable game at the Trevor Barker Oval in round one. Despite being down and out when the Tigers raced to an early lead with six goals in the first quarter, Sandringham refused to lie down. Inspired by a four-goal outing from Will Johnson and solid defence from Ricky Ferrarro, the Zebras gave new coach Brett Lovett a strong start to the season.
Sandringham made it two-zip with a fighting win against a resilient Frankston last Sunday at Frankston Oval. The Zebras were again forced to come from behind after surrendering a half-time lead of four points to a young Dolphins side. They did so with hard-working St Kilda listed player Andrew McQualter at the forefront and with moments of dexterity from Justin Koschitzke, who had returned from ankle injury after an extensive stint on the sidelines. Johnson again proved himself a reliable target up forward, booting four goals.
When asked after the match against Frankston of the value of winning two close games early in the season Lovett stated: “It’s always good early on, it helps build the resolve and a bit of team spirit amongst the group. It leaves them knowing that when it gets tight we can win games.”
He did, however, concede that it was not ideal for the club to find themselves in tight contests: “At the end of the day we probably could have used the ball better to not put ourselves in this situation. Not taking anything away from Frankston, because I thought they fought pretty hard all day. But we could have used the ball better, particularly in the first half. That would have opened the game up a bit.”
Lovett admitted heavy winds partially contributed to the Sandringham players’ poor ball use against the Dolphins, preventing the Zebras from fully utilising one of their strengths - their height. He said after the match: “We’re a fairly tall team, so I thought we probably didn’t kick the ball that well to our taller players. Once the ball hit the deck Frankston’s smaller players probably outworked us.”
However, Lovett is positive about season 2011. He hopes to take the team to the finals after a three-year absence in his first year as Sandringham coach, and therefore improve on their 9th place finish last year. “I think we need to win ten plus games to do that, so at this stage two-zip’s good,” he said.
“Once we get through probably half the season we’ll have a good look at the competition, because it changes a bit from year to year, and then reset our goals. But at this stage we think we’ve got a strong enough list to play finals footy,” Lovett said.
Sandringham this week host Port Melbourne in the battle of second and third on the ladder, with both team undefeated after two rounds.
Sam Landy
Last Modified on 15/04/2011 10:48