Reserves Coach Shane Woewodin gives lions.com.au his assessment of the weekend’s game against the Canberra Demons.
“The wet conditions had settled in overnight in Canberra and remained like that for the remainder of the day.
“We got off to a good start. The pressure was good early. We smashed inside 50 pretty regularly in the first 10 minutes and probably controlled the first part of the first quarter. We hit the scoreboard through Billy Evans kicking the first goal of the day through a high tackle. After that Canberra probably arrested the momentum and it swung back their way and they controlled the last part of the first quarter.
“Our worst quarter of the day was the second – 5.2 to 0.1 was really disappointing from our group. To allow Canberra that much momentum and that much charge going into half time, in those conditions a five goal break was really hard to get back.
“The second half was just an arm wrestle for the remainder of the game. I think they only outscored us by one goal. We improved in a lot of areas statistically in the second half but the damage had been done, particularly in the first half. In and around the ball in contested ball and clearances, Canberra dominated that area.
“We looked a bit disorganised as a group throughout the entire day, particularly in stoppage. That’s an area we need to address and need to get better at when the conditions don’t allow you to use the ball the way you want to and had planned to throughout the day. Hopefully there are some brighter conditions for the following weeks.
“We welcomed back Hugh Beasley after injury and Michael Close after a nine-week layoff with injury as well.
“For the first time representing the jumper we also welcomed Sammy Skinner. He’s come off a 12 month reconstruction and came through the game unscathed. He had an impact too when he was on the ground. He played his role and did a few promising things. There is a lot to look forward to with Sammy’s back half of the year. It was good to get him out there and put the jumper on.
“We lost a couple of players through injury. We were only down to two after half time.
“Hugh Beasley we’ve lost for what will be an extended period with a knee injury. We think it is pretty similar to what Ryan Lester did last year. He can’t get a run at it at the moment, Hugh. It’s really disappointing for the kid.
“We also lost Archie Smith (concussion) early in the second quarter. He’s been in really good form and pushing for senior selection with Trent (West) and Stef (Martin). We were down two which made it really hard for rotations in the second half. We were able to battle on and make it a really even battle for the remainder of the day. That was promising to see. We ended up laying 120 tackles for the game. The conditions allowed it and it was certainly our best tackling display as a team in my time here with this NEAFL group.
“It’s Southport this week down there. Hopefully we’ll bounceback and see if we can get our second win for the year.”
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