bornadog
30-04-2013, 10:54 PM
30 April 2013
Over the past 18 months, we haven’t always been able to deal with games like this one, but we stood up pretty well for four quarters on Saturday night, without getting the result we wanted.
The summation for us, the coaches, at the end was that we tried our very best to win a game of football with effort and an appetite to compete, but Geelong controlled the last 12 or 13 minutes and killed off our momentum.
They just set the ground up better and they were able to hang onto the ball which almost forced us to fizzle out, get tired and not be able to produce the same effort. This is not an excuse, it is just a lot of experience in the opposition team that knew what to do to control the game against a young team that was clearly taking it up to them and putting them under enormous pressure.
We worked hard throughout the week on how we set up the ground and it helped us in all areas on Saturday night. There were still times though, where Geelong had a lot of space to run through in middle of the ground. At times we had a couple of players that weren’t where they should be and that is what coaching is about, especially with a young group of players — our job is to show them, give them a solution and demand that they do it better. The stats from scoring from stoppages and turnover scores were much more favourable this week for us too.
Moving the ball forward, we were able to create a bit more room for each other and test them but not for long enough, and if anything, that last kick inside 50 needed to be a little better and at times, either a little more in the corridor or certainly more to advantage.
We are such a young forward group and we need to be able to find them some easier goals sometimes. We have to work pretty hard for our goals but that is often the case with a young forward group, they haven’t quite mastered the craft yet and I think most of them the other night were giving up over 100 games of experience per player.
I don’t think people quite understand what 100 games of experience actually looks like, because sometimes it is six or seven seasons, seven or eight pre-seasons and in a lot of cases, it is a lot of beltings where you have been beaten by better players or better teams. Having said that, I am seeing more and more times where our younger players are dealing with more experienced opponents.
What we want our loyal members to know that every day we are working our back sides off to get better. Are we seeing it out on the ground all the time? No we are not. Are we seeing it more often? We believe we are.
We knew that the start of our year was potentially as tough as what was facing any club. The first six of seven weeks of the season, we have and are facing clubs that most people think will finish top eight. It will be another challenge this Sunday against West Coast — travelling interstate at any time with a young team is a challenge — but we will go into the game knowing that if we defend the ground well, be bold with the ball and have an appetite to compete, then we’re in for a good day.
See you at the game,
Brendan McCartney
Over the past 18 months, we haven’t always been able to deal with games like this one, but we stood up pretty well for four quarters on Saturday night, without getting the result we wanted.
The summation for us, the coaches, at the end was that we tried our very best to win a game of football with effort and an appetite to compete, but Geelong controlled the last 12 or 13 minutes and killed off our momentum.
They just set the ground up better and they were able to hang onto the ball which almost forced us to fizzle out, get tired and not be able to produce the same effort. This is not an excuse, it is just a lot of experience in the opposition team that knew what to do to control the game against a young team that was clearly taking it up to them and putting them under enormous pressure.
We worked hard throughout the week on how we set up the ground and it helped us in all areas on Saturday night. There were still times though, where Geelong had a lot of space to run through in middle of the ground. At times we had a couple of players that weren’t where they should be and that is what coaching is about, especially with a young group of players — our job is to show them, give them a solution and demand that they do it better. The stats from scoring from stoppages and turnover scores were much more favourable this week for us too.
Moving the ball forward, we were able to create a bit more room for each other and test them but not for long enough, and if anything, that last kick inside 50 needed to be a little better and at times, either a little more in the corridor or certainly more to advantage.
We are such a young forward group and we need to be able to find them some easier goals sometimes. We have to work pretty hard for our goals but that is often the case with a young forward group, they haven’t quite mastered the craft yet and I think most of them the other night were giving up over 100 games of experience per player.
I don’t think people quite understand what 100 games of experience actually looks like, because sometimes it is six or seven seasons, seven or eight pre-seasons and in a lot of cases, it is a lot of beltings where you have been beaten by better players or better teams. Having said that, I am seeing more and more times where our younger players are dealing with more experienced opponents.
What we want our loyal members to know that every day we are working our back sides off to get better. Are we seeing it out on the ground all the time? No we are not. Are we seeing it more often? We believe we are.
We knew that the start of our year was potentially as tough as what was facing any club. The first six of seven weeks of the season, we have and are facing clubs that most people think will finish top eight. It will be another challenge this Sunday against West Coast — travelling interstate at any time with a young team is a challenge — but we will go into the game knowing that if we defend the ground well, be bold with the ball and have an appetite to compete, then we’re in for a good day.
See you at the game,
Brendan McCartney