In what was Sandringham’s first loss of the year against a strong Coburg team, the Zebras will rest up with this week’s bye and learn from their mistakes. In a game that went goal for goal for 2 and a half quarters, the Zebra’s were down by as much as 36 points with 10 minutes to go in the last, to lose by only 5 points as Nick Ciantar reports.
The Zebra’s seemed to be outclassed all day. They were beaten in the ruck and their disposal of the ball was not up to the standard that it has been. After two strong wins, the Zebra’s found themselves out against an opponent that wanted the ball more.
The first break saw Sandringham trail by 2 points. Beau Wilkes had a great start to the game, kicking two goals. The game began slowly for both teams, but a great contest was about to unfold.
Myke Cook picked up where he left off from the last week by taking a spectacular contested mark in the forward line and capped it off with a goal. In what was a big second quarter by both teams, Coburg dominated in the ruck with Angus Graham and Andrew Browne. They had the majority of the hitouts, which meant Sandringham struggled to win the contested ball.
“Contested ball mainly, we (were) just beaten for the contested ball,” said Sandringham coach Simon McPhee.
When the game mattered most in the third quarter, Coburg managed to kick 4 in a row, to give them a handy lead of 18 points at the final break. Sandringham seemed to fumble, make mistakes that they usually wouldn’t and Coburg punished them on the scoreboard.
“Statistically we didn’t have as much (of the) ball and when we did have it, we didn’t use it very well.”
After a game that saw the contested possession and hitout tally’s in the negatives, Sandringham managed to still fight back in the last quarter. Sandringham did seem to have poor kicking efficiency, though they can still gain some positives out of the loss.
“I thought (Hamish) Shepheard and (Daniel) Archer battled manfully.”
“Beau Dowler battled manfully, I thought Jackson Ferguson was ok. Beau Wilkes fought the game out, battled hard early and got a few goals late.”
Beau Wilkes kicked 5 goals, in a strong performance. Ahmed Saad and Adam Cockie had two goals, being the other multiple goal kickers on the day. Tom Curren had the most disposals for the Zebra’s, with 27, in what was another strong performance.
With a bye next round, Sandringham will be looking to bounce back against Williamstown at home.
Last Modified on 12/04/2012 15:50