Port Melbourne and the Coburg Tigers both aim to bounce back from surprising losses when they go head to head in the Round 12 ABC TV match of the round.
Round 11 saw Port Melbourne experience their second loss for the season, after being defeated by Geelong on Saturday. The Cats had lost three games in a row but entered the contest with an impressive line-up.
Port Melbourne Coach, Gary Ayres disregarded their opponents recent results and expected a tough battle.
“We knew that this was going to be an extremely hard game to win against Geelong at Geelong and it was only 4 weeks ago that they were sitting second on the ladder. I felt we lost our advantage at the stoppages and the flow on effect was Geelong winning the clearances. This put our defence under pressure and our running and offensive game was below par.”
Although they recorded a loss, Ayres felt that a handful of players still put forward standout performances for the team.
“Dean Galea was outstanding with 7 goals which was brought about by his work rate and quick leading and strong marking in the wet conditions.
“Shane Valenti was his usual creative self with very good distribution skills in the wet.
“Marc Johnston was strong and aggressive with his rebound from defence and Mick Dillon worked hard in the midfield and link up play.”
Ayres has put the onus on his own group this week when they face Coburg. Due to the level playing field the competition now presents, each Club must focus on mastering their own game to put a win on the board.
Regardless of their last round loss, Port Melbourne has retained their ladder leadership due to the percentage they have accrued in previous weeks.
Coburg enters Round 12 after a significant 76 point loss to Bendigo in Shepparton. The Tigers venture to regional Victoria was a success in regards to their supporters attendance, however, they were let down by the result.
Adam Potter, coach of the Coburg Tigers was able to take a step back after their loss and breakdown the areas they need to improve upon.
“We were clearly beaten on transition. We were able to get the ball inside 50 enough but our forward structure fell down which allowed Bendigo to transition the ball quite easily from our forward 50.
“We also gave up some easy goals from turnovers, part of the reason was Bendigo and their pressure but some of the goals we put down to poor decisions. Our players need to work harder for longer periods of the game, simple as that and we will continue to send this message and focus on the defensive side of our game leading up to the Port Melbourne game.
“We also need to make more of our opportunities we missed some simple shots on goal early in the game and didn’t put any score board pressure on.
Potter was frank when discussing his players’ execution throughout the season.
“We haven’t had players performing consistently enough week in week out. We need more output from some of our senior players. If you look at our solid contributors on the weekend apart from Matt White the next 3 have less than 10 games experience. Matt has been consistent and to his credit he works at an AFL standard intensity when he plays at VFL level.
“Angus Graham is another who has been a consistent performer over the course of the year but across the board we are looking for more output from some of our senior players.”
Port Melbourne remains the team to beat. The fact that they have dropped games this season proves that they are not invincible and Coach Potter can learn from the tactics Collingwood and Geelong applied to be victorious.
“We will continue to look at the Geelong game over the course of the week. We are fully aware that we have a big challenge ahead of us this week against a team who has an outstanding record at home. We will look at some of the basic foundations we need to play with this week to ensure our intent, physicality and work rate are at the right level,” Potter said.
Port Melbourne vs Coburg Tigers
Saturday 16th June
ABC TV – 1:00pm
Last Modified on 15/06/2012 12:56