General News
29 April, 2019
Pies struck down at Reid Oval
CAMPERDOWN co-coach Jack Williams conceded his side has hit a bit of a “speed-hump” after sustaining a second successive Hampden league senior football defeat on Saturday.
CAMPERDOWN co-coach Jack Williams conceded his side has hit a bit of a “speed-hump” after sustaining a second successive Hampden league senior football defeat on Saturday.
The Magpies were outclassed in a 14.14 (98) to 4.5 (29) defeat to Warrnambool at Reid Oval, with the Blues surging to their third win with nine goals to one after quarter time.
Williams, who missed the clash as did Pele Manivong, said Camperdown had underperformed in its two most recent outings after a strong win over Terang Mortlake in round one.
“Obviously we were disappointed as everyone would be,” he said.
“Being a little undermanned, we still started well I thought but over the board for the next three quarters we were a bit loose and a bit behind the pace and we didn’t execute our skills.
“It’s something we’ll have to work on over the week to get over this little speed hump.”
Williams said it was hard to identify the area that was the cause of the problem, conceding they lacked winners across the ground.
The Blues kicked five goals to three in the opening term with the aid of a breeze, but started to seize total control of the game in the second quarter.
They pressured the Magpies into constant mistakes and then punished them on the scoreboard, scoring several goals with ease as they ran away with a 69 point win.
However Williams did credit the back line for holding firm all day under constant Warrnambool forward entries, praising Brendan Richardson, Jason Robinson and Angus Gordon for their performances.
“I wouldn’t say it was anywhere specific because we were well beaten all over the ground,” he said.
“But I thought our defenders still did pretty well under constant pressure all day.
“Richo held his own on (Darren) Ewing and Robbo and young Gus both held their own too but we were just a bit stagnant all over the ground.
“Their forward line is pretty strong but they were able to get it in there too easily.”
Williams said despite the final margin, the players’ effort or their unity could not be questioned.
“A lot of sides when they’re down by that amount of points they tend to drop right away but right to the last siren the effort was there,” he said.
“You have to take a little bit of heart in the players putting in the effort until the final siren and it was good to see them stick up for young Bally (Luke Ball) at the end there too.
“That showed we’re still a really tight-knit group.”
Camperdown will now have the chance to bounce back on home turf this Saturday against North Warrnambool with Williams keen to see his side’s response.
He said there would be an emphasis placed on executing their game plan, adding he wants to see his players take the game on.
The Magpies are likely to regain Williams and Manivong for the clash which will strengthen the Magpies somewhat however they are set to lose skipper Mitch Danahay for a period through injury.
Fraser Lucas is also a chance to miss the clash with the Eagles as he challenges a report for striking Warrnambool’s Tom Ludeman in the third quarter.
“We’ve just got to really focus on not dropping our heads because I think a lot of blokes can take the mistakes they make to heart too much and they then lose their confidence” Williams said.
“That’s when we stop taking our 45s (kicks) and start kicking long down the line because everyone is too scared to make those mistakes.
“I really want us next week to not get into that slump and keep playing to our game style, that’s probably the main thing, just staying confident even if things don’t go our way.”
In the other grades, the reserves recorded their second victory of the season with a 6.3 (39) to 3.5 (23) triumph, while the under 18.5s remain undefeated after downing the Blues 6.12 (48) to 5.3 (33).