Finally a win after seven losses. Finals still alive
“Probably as a whole club, not just me,” he said. “The players have probably been feeling it as well. It’s a good result and a bit of a weight off the shoulders.”
The first term was an arm wrestle but Grovedale quickly took momentum in the second quarter, only to leave the door ajar for North Shore at halftime.
Yet the weight of inside-50s took its toll before the Tigers ran out rampant victors, 16.17 (113) to 8.4 (52). “We haven’t been playing that bad footy; we’ve been playing some decent footy, we just haven’t had a four-quarter effort and those teams we played against have really opened us up if we haven’t been on for a quarter or two,” McCaughan said.
“We knew it was going to turn around eventually.
“That first half we probably could have put them away a little bit more; it might have been a mental type thing, we haven’t had the ball in our forward line all that much over the last few weeks. It takes a while to get that little groove back.” McCaughan said he was most pleased with his side’s ability to hit the scoreboard, in particular in the second half where his side nailed 12 majors, without one of the competition’s best — Jordan Erskine — snaring one.
“Without Jordan kicking a goal but still him being involved and looking very potent up forward is a credit to the other forwards to chime in and kick a few as well; it was a good team performance today,” he said.
So can the Tigers still make finals? They sit ninth at 3-7 with a percentage of 108.4, having endured a tough draw, and it continues with St Joseph’s next weekend.
“That’s still obviously the aim. We literally have to take it week by week where we’re at at the moment,” McCaughan said.
“We’ve got Joeys next week and we have to cause an upset there.
“If we can fix up our skill errors that have been hurting us and play a full four-quarter game, I’ve got no doubt (we’re good enough). We’ve just got to try and string that together and I’m confident we can do that; it’s just a matter of time hopefully.”