Pride on the line for Joeys

ST JOSEPH’S suffered a crushing loss that has rocked its title defence, but coach Heath Jamieson certainly isn’t panicking.

Outplayed from the opening bounce, St Joseph’s was handed a football lesson by St Mary’s.

The Joeys backline was well beaten, a rare sight for the reigning premiers, but Jamieson expects pride to play a major role in his side bouncing back in next week’s semi-final.

“We can’t lick our wounds. Speaking to the players after the game, be disappointed with today’s result but know that if we can get somewhere near our best that’s still good enough,” he said.

“We’re up for it, we’ve got a lot of players in there whose pride is hurt in the way they played and I believe they will come out next week and give a better showing.

“We’ve just got to turn things around, get back to work and come out next week and hopefully get the job done.”

Brought on in part by extreme pressure from St Mary’s, St Joseph’s saw its skills collapse in the first final.

The experienced backline committed continuous errors.

“We can’t do anything about the players’ skill level, that’s a player-driven thing. They have to improve in that area and they will, they’re all good ball users,” Jamieson said.

“Not a great day to have one of those, but we’ve got a proud group and a proud footy club. We’ll work our backsides off to come out next week with a better showing.”

Thanks to the double chance, St Joseph’s will front up again next week ready to make amends.

“If we play how we know we can play, we’re still a bloody dangerous side, so it’s just about us playing like that, I suppose,” Jamieson said.