- Big focus this week on sticking tight as a group and working selflessly with and for each other. We felt it was important that the players didn’t get caught up in the hysteria surrounding two losses, along with injuries, and instead concentrated on working together towards a win.
- Had to structure differently this week after losing personnel from the St Kilda game. Had to bring in some talls - Holland, Ferguson, and Paul Johnson - to replace Neitz, Rivers, and Robertson.
- A strong effort over four quarters was required against the Cats, who are a hard running team. Focus areas were – winning the stoppages, tackling fiercely to stop their handball overlap game from defence, and switching the play during counter attack.
During the Match:
- Geelong was much more efficient with their ball use, going inside their forward 50 metres 15 times in the first quarter. They had a very high conversion rate, having 13 scoring shots from these 15 entries. The trend continued in the second quarter, where Geelong controlled the ball, kicking six goals to two for the quarter.
- We made Brad Green a focal point in the forward line, as he provides the team with a leading target, and finished with four goals for the day.
- At half-time, we structured up to create a spare man in defence, to protect our backs and slow the game down. We urged our players to be desperate to win the ball, tackle with intent and play “tempo” football whenever they could to reduce Geelong’s opportunities to attack. We had to stop Geelong from kicking a very big score, and attempt to hit the scoreboard ourselves.
- We pushed Paul Johnson to centre half back and Ben Holland to the forward line.
- The third quarter was an arm wrestle, although we missed some easy shots and opportunities to set up shots at goal. We kicked one goal and five behinds for the quarter and turned the ball over when the opportunity presented itself.
- To our guy’s credit, they fought it out in the last quarter, scoring three goals to one.
Post Match:
- We lost the game because in the first half we made too many unforced errors that led directly to Geelong goals. This was particularly the ca- se in the early stages of the game.
- Our tactics after half time to slow the ball down and reduce the amount of goals kicked worked, but we didn’t kick enough goals ourselves. Both teams kicked four goals each after half time.
- We did well around the stoppages, winning more ball than Geelong (33 to 22 in clearances). This is a big positive that we can take into the Fremantle game. We showed in the second half that we can match it with Geelong, which is in very good form at the moment.
I feel confident that the team will build on their second half effort. As long as we continue with the determination to work selflessly with and for each other, then our first win is just around the corner. That will be our focus this week.
