Reserves Match Report – Round 1

It was a good start to the season last Friday evening.

As coaches we have seen this group dramatically improve in the understanding of their roles and our system in the last 6-8 weeks through the preseason.

We were all pretty excited to see how we would go in round 1 against a team who play consistent finals footy.

We started the game really well, our pressure was good and we were up in the keys stats that we value as a club. We just felt we probably didn’t finish off our good work as well as we probably should have.

Eagles lifted their pressure and contested ball numbers in the second quarter and probably missed some shots they would have like to get also.

The game then stayed pretty even for the remainder of it. Both teams didn’t execute skills as well as they would’ve liked, but I felt we were still playing our system well.

The Eagles hit the front about halfway through the last and with about 6-7 mins left we were down by 9 points.

As a group we value playing your role very highly in both Senior and Reserves level but we also encourage the players to bring and showcase their strengths at every opportunity they get. Some of our controlled ball movement was really pleasing to see.  Although a few players were probably a bit frustrated that they weren’t able to showcase or execute their strengths as much as they would have liked, it was encouraging to see them all still stick to playing their role and holding structure throughout the game. Which lead to us being able to keep the ball in motion going forward, Jed Obst found some composure with ball in hand and hit Riley Hill holding shape as a winger 25m out from goal and slotting it.

The most pleasing part of the game from a coaching perspective was seeing the players execute the different game modes that Adam Hartlett has introduced for the Senior squad in close game scenarios. We have trained them over the preseason but to see the boys put them into action well in a game situation should give them a lot of confidence going forward. As coaches we were really proud of the boys efforts across the whole night.

Just a quick shout to all the support staff who gave up their time on Good Friday to help out, very much appreciated.

And to all the supporters who hung around to watch our game after the Seniors. It doesn’t go unnoticed and is very much appreciated.

Hopefully we can see a few of you out there next Friday (April 12) night when we take on centrals at home.

Reserves Coach – Shane Baldock