It’s been challenging to create a side from scratch and we haven’t had the luxury of a solid pre season but we have a good mix of new, developing and more experienced players in the group which is approximately 30 strong. Three or four boys have never played footy before. This year will be a development year, particularly for the local boys who are mostly bottom age U/17’s which will be good for the future of our club. The players should be very pleased with their efforts against Mernda to start the season. Our first quarter was very competitive and there were some excellent individual and team efforts. At times we linked up well and we should see some significant improvement in the team dynamic as the season progresses, as players get used to how each other plays and we develop our game style. The group are gelling well and as a collective we are trying to instill that team culture which always takes time with a new group. As the game progressed, our fitness level really showed which impacted our decision making and skill execution. Mernda played very well and were too strong for us on the day. The game was played in very good spirits by both teams which is good to see.
Reserves (Lucas Brass)
Impressive first game for a team who has gone through a tough few years. The boys are keen to stop the trend of. We wrestled back the game at peak points throughout and finished strong with our hard preseason helping us over run them. Glofy was fantastic forward, Jacko Mill solid like usual and Carson was perfect leading by example.
Seniors (Steve Layt)
Obviously a very disappointing day from a seniors perspective. Losing Matty Fowler and Matty Byron early was one thing but more importantly our lack of response to the onslaught from Mernda was another. Certainly a real wake up call for our entire playing group and coaches alike. Our work rate was well below our pre game expectations and with Mernda at their peak in this area having laid over 80 tackles we have quickly learnt that divvy 3 footy will be a challenge week in week out. Better players for us included the Parks brothers with Nick really solid in the ruck. Scotty Conte who worked his heart out all day with minimal rotation and both our key defenders in Brent Ryan and Mitch Anderson were solid for the most part along with new recruit Luke Ericson off half back. The good news is we get a chance to reflect on our performance, make sone adjustments and look towards getting it back on track this week v Laurimar.
