bornadog
07-05-2013, 11:08 PM
7 May 2013
This week we faced a very good football team in West Coast — a mature side that applied enormous pressure around the ball, and at times we dealt with it well, and other times we didn’t, which reflected on the scoreboard, particularly early in the game.
We fielded a young side, 15 with under 50 games of experience in fact, and they experienced first-hand how challenging preparing for an interstate game can be.
We saw periods of the game where we were prepared to defend the ground well, and were rewarded with goals off the back of some strong defensive efforts — the disappointing part of that was that we allowed West Coast to reply quickly, where we could’ve been a little smarter in how we set-up the ground and how we transitioned defensively.
We felt, in patches that we weren’t hard enough to play against and that’s something we have spoken about as a group. We will keep supporting and coaching our players, so that we are harder to play against, for longer periods.
We have shown the ability to handle the game when it has stopped — our next challenge is how we can make it difficult for opposition teams to play the way they want to play. We know we have the players that can handle contested situations, and that will hold us in good stead as we continue to mature as a team.
We have a unique opportunity at our Club to teach some good young people the right way to play, early in their careers, and are confident we are doing exactly that. We will get there.
We have arrived back in Melbourne, relatively healthy and are looking to regain some seasoned, experienced players for our game this week against North Melbourne. They are fit again, fresh, and we’re confident they will help our team function better. North Melbourne have been in some good form recently, and the challenge for us now is to back up from a trip to Perth in six days.
We saw over the past six weeks that when you move away from well-structured team defence against quality opposition, they will make you pay. The next four weeks will hold challenges, but they also present some opportunities to reset our season.
We enjoyed your boisterous support against Geelong, especially late in the game and are looking forward to your energetic barracking on the weekend — it inspires our players to go harder.
See you at the game.
Brendan McCartney
This week we faced a very good football team in West Coast — a mature side that applied enormous pressure around the ball, and at times we dealt with it well, and other times we didn’t, which reflected on the scoreboard, particularly early in the game.
We fielded a young side, 15 with under 50 games of experience in fact, and they experienced first-hand how challenging preparing for an interstate game can be.
We saw periods of the game where we were prepared to defend the ground well, and were rewarded with goals off the back of some strong defensive efforts — the disappointing part of that was that we allowed West Coast to reply quickly, where we could’ve been a little smarter in how we set-up the ground and how we transitioned defensively.
We felt, in patches that we weren’t hard enough to play against and that’s something we have spoken about as a group. We will keep supporting and coaching our players, so that we are harder to play against, for longer periods.
We have shown the ability to handle the game when it has stopped — our next challenge is how we can make it difficult for opposition teams to play the way they want to play. We know we have the players that can handle contested situations, and that will hold us in good stead as we continue to mature as a team.
We have a unique opportunity at our Club to teach some good young people the right way to play, early in their careers, and are confident we are doing exactly that. We will get there.
We have arrived back in Melbourne, relatively healthy and are looking to regain some seasoned, experienced players for our game this week against North Melbourne. They are fit again, fresh, and we’re confident they will help our team function better. North Melbourne have been in some good form recently, and the challenge for us now is to back up from a trip to Perth in six days.
We saw over the past six weeks that when you move away from well-structured team defence against quality opposition, they will make you pay. The next four weeks will hold challenges, but they also present some opportunities to reset our season.
We enjoyed your boisterous support against Geelong, especially late in the game and are looking forward to your energetic barracking on the weekend — it inspires our players to go harder.
See you at the game.
Brendan McCartney