Development Squad Match Report: Boronia v Heathmont

With possibly the strongest team available for almost six weeks we headed to Heathmont looking to break our losing run.  The Heathmont sporting complex was full to overflowing with women’s footy in full swing we were forced to do our preparation in the great outdoors.  The mood was good and we felt confident as we had played four quarters the previous week and only missed by less than a kick.

The ball was thrown up and we scored a major within the first couple of minutes.  We looked “on” early, perhaps a bit premature in the confidence department.  The next ball up was cleared easily by our opponents and they goaled shortly after.  We held our proverbial breath and witnessed the best quarter of footy by any of our opponents this season.

At the quarter time break we asked for man on man footy in the second and to stem the tide.  We failed in several key positions to adhere to man on man and their loose players cut us to bits.  Although we stemmed the goals we could not dent their confidence and they used the ball by foot well, switching and marking at will.

The long break came quickly, we entered the rooms for some soul searching.  We were confident we could peg them back if we played our best footy.  The voice from the other side of the dividing roller door was heard to say “They will come and come hard, do not under estimate them.”  This made our opponents want the football even more.

We chased hard all day but never really got to where we wanted to go.  We played into their hands by panic kicks, turn overs and lack of wanting the contest.  This was not the style of play we played earlier in the season by a long shot.

Have we dropped the ball? Got ahead of ourselves? Become complacent?

I think not.  Our attendance at training has dropped and we look tired.  Our opposition have had a good look at us now, so we now have to do something different  to mix things up a little.  There are no EXCUSES to be had and if there was we wouldn’t use them.

We take on top of the ladder Ferntree Gully next week and a win is a must to stay in the hunt for finals football.  The future lays in our hands and ours alone.  Let’s work harder than ever on the track and change our results and play the footy we know we can.

@boroniahawks D Squad Scoreboard – presented by Alchester IGA

Heathmont 16.8 104 d Boronia 7.10 52
Goal Kickers: J. Stamatakos 2, J. Rambaldo, J. Granland, L. Johnson, J. Paterson, T. Dower.
Best Players: L. Johnson, B. Castersen, J. Granland, B. Wright, D. Dower, R. Migues.