Gotchy’s Match Report – R16 v Glenelg

As a group we feel our past few weeks have been very solid, getting the right consistency with our offense and defence. Coming off a win we knew our best footy can match it with anyone. Glenelg have had a great year; narrowly beating us in round 9, so we were determined to get 2 wins in a row. Saturday gave us perfect conditions and a good brand of football was in store.

Our first quarter was very good; we got on top in key areas (Clearances, Contested Possession) and controlled the footy effectively out of defence and linking through the middle. Our execution going inside forward 50 let us down – it would’ve been nice to have kicked a few more goals given the dominance we had however it was great to see the boys playing with confidence and utilising their strengths.

As a current top 2 side, we knew Glenelg were going to come out hard in the second quarter which is exactly what they did. Clearances, Contested Possessions and marks started to be Glenelg’s favour but to our boys credit l felt we held up really strongly. Yes they did kick 4 goals in the quarter but they came from costly turnovers on our end. At half time we spoke about being composed, playing our roles and ensuring one another our focuses for the second half.

Third quarter we regrouped and threw the challenge at Glenelg. We scored 3 goals, giving our forwards more of an opportunity and we started to get the match back on our terms. Just like the first quarter, our ability to control the ball through the middle of the ground was good, performing more handball receives which was very encouraging.

Oscar Steene in his debut game played very well in the ruck, getting his hands to the ball first on most occasions allowing our mids first opportunity to take possession or to at least make a contested battle.

Fourth quarter was very even and we continued to play with confidence and managed to take the lead after Tom Morrish scored a great running goal. We could’ve been a bit more efficient with our skills but the intensity and effort the players showed not only in the last quarter but for the whole game was another step in the right direction. Unfortunately we went down by 9 points, and after the match l saw the players huddle as a group before they walked into the changerooms. You could see on their faces the loss hurt as these are now games they expect to win. Standards have been set high and our leaders are doing a fantastic job in delivering this.

We had lots of contributors on the day; Joel Stevens and Hamish Hartlett were very good in the midfield. Lucas Meline was fantastic on the wing with some of his acts of courage inspiring the group. Jono Beech had a great contest with Max Proud finishing with 19 disposals and two goals;  and Mitch Maguire had a solid game as a half forward scoring two goals. Jordan Boyle, Callum Park, Tom Morrish and Logan Hill were all fantastic in defence with composed skills, and run and carry. Tom Rundle was also good reading the play very well.

Our leaders again led the way. Josh Ryan, Tom Keough, Hamish Hartlett and Kaiden Brand (who we missed) continue to drive the standards and inspire their team mates.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us on Saturday. It was a very good crowd and the boys definitely appreciated it. We look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday the 6^th of August when we host South Adelaide.

Best Players: Joel Stevens, Jordan Boyle, Lucas Meline

Senior Coach, Brad Gotch