Colville’s Corner – Round 11

A disappointing match on Saturday and in many ways unacceptable. There have been times this year when we have not matched the opposition which could in part be attributed to inexperience and a high injury toll. This was not the case on Saturday. For most the game we were undisciplined with our structures, did not follow pre-game instructions and were hopelessly outworked. This resulted in us continually being outnumbered at contested ball and ultimately having an inability to slow the opposition down in any part of the ground. This gave our backline very little chance as the ball came in very quickly and cleanly. Key stats highlighted this. Despite only having 6 less inside 50m entries, we were beaten by 12 goals. The opposition I50 to score ratio was 62% which is the worst we have conceded all year. Our ball movement was also impacted by a lack of work rate which saw our switches slowed on most occasions due to a lack of spread further up the ground, whilst I also thought we were not brave enough to hit up short kicks through the middle of the ground. This played into Glenelg hands as the ignored our small lead ups and oriented back to outnumber.  Conversely, when we were able to either posses and change directions or break through with fast play, we looked very dangerous. Unfortunately, we did not fully capitilise on this with our set shots.

I thought Tom Keough and Logan Hill were consistent all game. They both provided a contest every time they were asked. Dallas Willsmore made a strong return from injury with great work rate and ball use and thought Hugh Haysman was very clean in contest and provided some good run.

So where to from here?

As a group we need to be very clear about what opportunities exist for the remainder of the year. We will not play finals however we must not lose focus of our long-term goals for the Club. Whilst we could simply play out the season and reset for next year, I don’t believe this is what we want to stand for and this is most certainly not consistent with our team values. Living our values during adversity and uncertainty is the opportunity I see going forward. I aim to keep this at the front of my mind and will ask the players to do the same.