League Match Report – Round 16

Our R16 match-up v Adelaide was one of significance as we paid tribute to a legend of our football club and icon of Australian Rules Football, Neil Kerley.

The fixture was also a great opportunity to showcase the football club to our new recruiting zone, River Murray Football League.

After a strong start and kicking the first two goals of the contest and seemingly dominating play, Adelaide was able to gain ascendancy by capitalizing on a couple of fundamental errors and lapses in concentration. A 10-point deficit at quarter time.

Our second quarter I felt our young defensive-line was exposed. Adelaide got more speed into the game and generated repeat Inside-50 entries; a drop off in communication and organisation behind the football led to a 4 goal to 0 quarter as we squandered our offensive thrusts.

To our players credit we battled out the second half as we have the whole season. I thought our midfield competed well throughout the day against a formidable Adelaide unit. Mick Mattingly & Kobe Ryan again leading the way, well supported by Joel Stevens (9 Clearances) and Mitch Maguire (21 Disposals & a goal). Riley Corbett (12 Disposals, 1 Goal) & Ned Stevens both competed valiantly against Adelaide’s Kieran Strachan. Beechy was a standout up forward with 4 goals.

To be within 15 points halfway through the final quarter and end up with a 38-point loss doesn’t sit well with me. I felt we let ourselves down slightly with some decision making / skill execution throughout the game which impacted heavily on the scoreboard in favour of Adelaide.

I can’t fault our effort. We had our best Contested Possession numbers for the season. We outscored Adelaide from Stoppages and were +13 at Clearance. We generated our most F50 entries in ten games. There was a lot to like about how we went about it, but there are still areas of our game we have identified we need to be better and more consistent in.

Congrats to Jono Beech on 200 club games over the weekend. Jono is still one of the hardest workers at our club in terms of how he prepares himself throughout the week, and the way he plays each weekend. From a personal perspective, he was an incredible teammate and has been a pleasure to coach. Well done mate, you should be extremely proud of your achievements over the years.

We look forward to our Round 17 clash this weekend v Norwood in front of our home crowd for the final time in 2023.

Adam Hartlett – League Coach