1 point the difference in Round 18

I certainly wish I was writing this week’s wrap under much more positive circumstances, but that is not to be after a 1-point loss to Central Districts on Saturday afternoon. It was a game of 2 halves, with a lot to like in our first half in the persistent rain and slippery conditions for most part. We were able to dominate territory and give ourselves enough chances to be in a much stronger position than we found ourselves at half time. The big positive was we were able to keep the opposition goalless which was a good result until that point and felt we were doing a lot of things pretty well.

The challenge was to be able to maintain, knowing full well that Centrals would bring great effort in the second half. They did that and together with some poor decisions defensively and also with the ball we allowed the momentum to shift and gave away the advantage we had in the game in a day when scoring had become difficult with the rain persisting throughout the day. Credit to the opposition as they were able to win some big moments and scramble a couple of key scores late in the game to get the result. We are disappointed in the result at this point of the year, but we move on really quickly and get stuck into preparation for our Rd 19 clash with South Adelaide with a lot in this competition to play for and confidence in what we are capable of with some improvement in some key areas. While the results have been frustrating over the last period there is a lot of positives that give us confidence and our playing group are fully aware of those and also the little areas we need to clean up. We will continue to chase consistent improvement.

Our Reserves group after a slow start played a strong game to continue to hold onto 2^nd in the competition. With some senior guys starting to find some strong form after a few games in the Reserves and some younger players continuing to play strong roles there is a lot to be pleased with in this group. What is really good see with this group is their consistency of effort in both the offence and defence side of the game. Well done to all involved.

What I can assure our supporters who I know are frustrated just like everyone, our best football is good enough and we will continue to try and find that consistency, we will continue to crack into our preparation, continue to look for improvement and fight all the way to where that takes us. We look forward to seeing a strong crowd for our last home game and round game for 2024 this Saturday.

Go The Bays

– Darren Reeves, Senior Coach

Goals: Holder (2), Curran, Lyons, Reynolds, Ridgway

Best Players: Ridgway, Lyons, Bell, Proud, Snook