Colville’s Corner – West v Port

Sunday was a tough day for our club. We did however achieve some of the team goals we had set before the match which is pleasing and important. Whilst winning is obviously the aim, our processes must be achieved in order for the wins to follow. Working on these processes will continue to be our focus.

I thought our intensity in the opening term was solid however we were beaten when the opposition won the 50/50 ball and got the ball quickly to their tall forwards. We looked a little disorganised with their quick ball movement and the fast entries. I also thought we didn’t execute our stoppage plan which lead to easy exits for the opposition. To lose the stoppages 12 to 5 was the result of not playing to our plan. I was pleased with our response in this area in the second term and we won the clearances easily for the quarter. We gained some momentum in the early part of the quarter but a period of poor skill in the b50m led to easy turnovers and scores. We must continue to work to minimise our unforced skill errors. Our movement in to the f50m was also marred by poor decisions. We changed our structure in the 3^rd term and looked to outnumber in the back half of the ground. This was aimed at minimising the height advantage the opposition enjoyed. The move had positive impact and we began to rebound the ball with quick movement and possession. We broke even with the opposition for I50m entries for the quarter and also stoppages. However the opposition took 7 marks in f50m to our 1. Both teams rebounded well, however we were not able to have the same f50m influence as the opposition. I thought we persisted in the last term despite a considerable deficit. We continued to chase and tackle with intent. Again however, the opposition displayed superior skill when rebounding the ball and a stronger ability to spread both offensively and defensively. This meant that our switched ball was often slowed whilst the opposition created clean forward entries from similar opportunities. A 77 point deficit is disappointing but it was not through a lack of effort. We still need to improve our positioning and reaction times to enable us to outnumber the opposition when we have clean ball. Our forward entries are still need to improve. The opposition finished with 20 marks in I50m to our 4.

Thank you to all who continue to attend and support the team. Your players are working hard. They are owning their shortfalls and working together. They feel the losses as you do. They appreciate your support at all times, however when times are tough, it is certainly needed and acknowledged, now more than ever.