6.6.42               14.8.92

 Great endeavour and commitment by lads, against one of last year's 
 leading teams.  We were well led by leaders King, Condello, Holloway,
 Bark and Bennington.  Disappointments were the poor kicking and
 decision making with us handing over easy goals that could have
 been avoided. In fact we should have been in front at half time
 and apart from our disappointing third quarter, we were very
 competitive, put our bodies on the line, and we won the last
 quarter after I asked the lads to show some pride in their
 performance.  The boys duly responded which is very positive to
 take into next week !   The team still seems to lack confidence
 in its own ability, to back themselves, and is still some way from
 a required fitness level, so a commitment to training and getting
 their bodies in top shape with run in their legs (to confidently
 take on opposition), and some weights in upper bodies, would go a
 long way to help build our belief system(s) that we can match it
 with all the leading teams.  Guys like kollner, millard, nix, 
 hanson, mansell, lenger and blake can improve rapidly with some 
 confidence and improvements in fitness.   
 Condello was inspirational all day with his attack at the ball and 
 his team efforts with his tackling, and it was great to see Lochie
 Turner and Ash Masters put in terrific games with plenty of run 
 and attack on the ball.Well done to Ryan Thomas &Trent Evans on
 their efforts in the development squad. Im expecting a big week of 
 training and commitment to our cause this week and lets set 
 ourselves to beat the 55 team acts from Saturday to help us go a 
 long way next week to beating Bayswater

holloway 2, bark, mansell, bennington,

condello, bennington, holloway, bark, king, turner, masters

Disappointing result after our great first quarter. Mind due, 
we lost 6 players before the ball was bounced, and only had 3 
on the bench, and finished with 1 !  This also gives us plenty 
of upside for improvement, and this week we should get blake, 
damo and lenger back and also hopefully a couple of very good 
recruits with good size, pending player clearance timeframes
Looking where we went wrong after quarter time when I gave huge
wraps to a number of players , in no particular order I would 
say unforgiveable kicking and marking, lack of manning up in 
defensive transition, poor coaching and too many changes from bench,
and mayb still a lack of match fitness to run out the game and to 
execute positive skills. I also believe that our mindset was poor 
in the wettish conditions, and that the players expected to drop 
their marks because of a lack of belief, confidence and in some 
cases, maturity. This is what we need to work on, and I know we 
can improve substantially here.
Holloway played 4 quarters, hanson was brilliant and best on ground
in the first half (ran out of fitness),  Dodd provided great attack
at the ball (especially in first half), Wright provided us with 
great spark (which will be huge for his confidence), King showed 
great leadership, and kollner got his hands on the ball a lot more.
And we had 75 team acts which was very encouraging with Dodd leading
the way.
Again, late in the game we experienced some negativeness on the 
ground with certain players providing negative comments to team 
mates, and this has to stop and will be addressed tonight directly
within a group discussion. This is not to be tolerated at any time
that seems to come to the surface when our team plan goes pearshape.
We are a team, and NOT a team of individuals !!
Im expecting a vast improvement this week with commitment to fitness,
team acts and building camraderie and player belief within our team,
and as we were leading at quarter time when the heat was on, I know
that we are a lot better than what the scoreboard is currently
showing, and we were very short on playing resources on Saturday,
so lets stay positive and prepare well for a big week back at home,
cheers.

Evans 2, Christou, Kollner, Nix, Hanson

holloway, hanson, dodd, wright, kolner, king

We were stiff on a number of fronts, but we went down in a close 
hard fought encounter.  The disappointment was that we were in front
 in the last quarter and we failed to put the foot on the peddle, 
when we were in a position to take out the game.  Fitness (or lack 
of) could still be an issue ..?? and it would be great to see the 
lads take the best out of the game by doing something extra this 
week to make sure we win our last quarter next week through better 
fitness and stronger, fitter bodies and minds.
 
There was some very positive signs right across the ground, which 
should bring us all some much needed confidence in future weeks, 
especially when you consider that the top 3 teams on the ladder now 
are the 3 teams we have all played so far !!  There was some great 
individual performances, with standouts Bennington and Holloway, 
and also Nick Wright putting their best player out of business in 
second half, whilst racking up plenty of the ball himself.
 
Trent Evans was a great focal point for us up forward, and is going 
to be a great acquisition to our club.
 
Other solid efforts were made by Nixy and Ryan Thomas in the ruck, 
and in the backline Aston Blake, Damo Schnickers and Joel King, along with Barks, were strong and reliable.
 
I still believe that we can make the finals this year if we maintain
 our levels of commitment to training, fitness and development, and 
we are shortly going to enjoy the spoils of some new recruits, and 
also look to bring back good players such as Mansell and Masters 
back from injury. However we do need to string some wins together 
asap. All in all, our best performance this year against one of the 
competition's respected leaders.
 

Evans 4, Dodd 2, Christou 2, Wright, Bennington, Holloway, Condello

bennington,holloway, wright, schnickling, blake, nix, thomas, king

Very disappointing last quarter fade out after leading at ¾ time. In the first half we only had 22 team acts and we were led to the ball by hungrier opposition

who had 2 or 3 strong tall’s out-marking us when the ball went forward for them. We really only played 1 good quarter, so we must look to improve and set ourselves the goal to play 100 minutes of footy next week, including playing out the last quarter with much higher levels of desperation and care !! 

In coming weeks, with the return of Zac Scott, Nick Lawlor, Jarryd Mansell, Ash Masters and co, we are going to have around 28 - 30 players available for selection, so the pressure will be coming onto a number of players to make sure of their spot on the team, and therefore training is critical in the ensuing weeks.

Our better players on Saturday were Damo Schnickling (reliable and strong all day), Holloway (got the hard ball all day), Bennington, Condello, Nugent (who showed heaps of potential as a marking leading forward in the first half), Nix (great first quarter and tried hard all day) Welsh, (best game to date as a backup mobile ruckman), and Millard (improving every week).

The one glaring area for improvement was that we really struggled to win the ball out of the centre, and we need to address this immediately at training and game day. 

Im thinking this week back at home we look to attack the pill from the outset, and strive to beat our opponents AT EVERY CONTEST (rather than going missing too often). We also need to further value the Montrose jumper we pull on every game, and recognise all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes from many generous volunteers and parents who give up their Saturdays to support our players’endeavours on the field, as they represent our club and our many supporters week in and week out.

The lads finally showed us their true potential and ran out convincing winners with a strong last quarter of 9 goals.  It is important that we don’t get carried away with 1 win and that we get our heads around another serious match this week against arch rivals Mooroolbark.  Good teams string together consecutive wins so its important that we show maturity and turn on again this week and really set us up for an attack on the top 4.  

Bennington played another great game and put his hand up at centre half forward in the last quarter to lead the way.  Condello threw himself into the battle all day with team acts top of mind and his last quarter was a real beauty, and he never stopped running.  Holloway and Barks were solid all day and Dodd showed us his lively potential and tremendous kicking skills with 2 super goals. 

Our forward line always looked dangerous with Evans being a great focal point and Mansell real sure with his skills, kicking important goals when they were really needed. Hanson and Schnickling also were great contributors in an even effort by all players. Finally Mitch Van Koll showed us some real grunt and ticker in the last quarter running straight and hard at the ball and player, which should give him plenty of confidence moving forward to kick on his career that just needs some confidence and experience racking up the pill more often. 

Finally I urge the players to concentrate on the weights over the next few months to build their strength and confidence on the ground, and to make it mentally easier to attack the ball and run straight more often, which is vital at this level, especially at finals level in the heat of the battle.

Evans 6, Mansell 4, Bennington 2, Dodd 2, Wright, Cardwell, Holloway, Hanson

Bennington, Condello, Holloway, Dodd, Barks, Evans, Mansell, Hanson, Schnickling