Frankston Oval will showcase the battle of the bay when the Frankston Dolphins and Sandringham Zebras go head to head on Sunday.
Frankston enter their Round 11 contest after a significant loss to ladder leaders Port Melbourne last weekend.
The Dolphins came out of the blocks well, but the game saw a considerable shift in momentum after the main break, with Port scoring 16 goals 7 to Frankston’s 6 goals 3 in the second half.
Frankston coach Simon Goosey was happy with their early play but believes they need to improve on their consistency.
“We did begin well, but we've got to learn to sustain the effort for four quarters. I thought Port started to win around the stoppages and the contested ball and our work rate dropped.”
Goosey was able to take some positive aspects away from the uncharacteristic large loss for the Dolphins.
“I thought Kyle Martin, Corey Buchan & Leigh Kitchen competed well against Ports mids and in the first half, Khan (Haretuku) took some nice marks and kicked some good goals.”
Frankston and Sandringham met in Round 2 last year and produced a great contest for spectators, with the Zebras victorious by 19 points.
When asked if he believes it will be a similar contest this weekend, Goosey responded with optimism.
“Hopefully we've done our homework on Sandringham well enough and we match up well, as long as the effort is there we will be able to compete.”
The Dolphins are experiencing a few weeks of gruelling opponents, having faced top teams Werribee and Port in recent rounds, and now Sandringham and Williamstown following.
However, Frankston have pushed each of these teams at stages, which provides much hope for the future of the Club.
“We have tested clubs, but you've got to be able to compete with the best to go forward as a club and as long as we don't deviate from the path we're heading down and the effort is there the wheel will start turning our way.
“Apart from the Port game and against Bendigo in the 1st quarter we've competed really well. The spirit around the club is great and it's a credit to the players the way they go about it, they know we're heading down the right pathway and can see we're putting together a really good young list,” Goosey said.
Opposition coach, Simon McPhee is well aware of Frankston’s good form regardless of their place on the Peter Jackson VFL Bailey Ladders ladder.
“Frankston are a really competitive side. They have obviously got some real talent and given we are playing them at their home ground, they will be ready to go. We need to run out onto the park with the same mindset.”
Sandringham has recently encountered a two week break due to the State League Match and a scheduled BYE. McPhee has made the most of this time by putting some hard work into his playing group.
“We got some good solid training into the boys over that time. Our Development side had a game last weekend so it didn’t feel too different to normal weeks. We did do some extra testing to gauge where we are currently placed in regards to fitness, which we would not necessarily normally do in a normal week.”
The Zebras last match was a thrilling buzzer beater against the Geelong Cats. McPhee has demonstrated that he can put wins on the board for Sandringham, but he has also illustrated that he is a very proactive coach with the foresight to take useful knowledge from every contest so that he can develop his group of players into a more powerful unit.
“As a Club, we are constantly looking to improve and therefore take aspects from each match to work on.
“I think we didn’t use the ball particularly well against Geelong and we need to have a good look at our defensive pressure as well. I believe we were lucky to get away with the win against the Cats,” McPhee said.
Frankston Dolphins vs Sandringham Zebras
Frankston Oval
2pm Sunday 10th June
Last Modified on 08/06/2012 15:07