Eagles still searching for first win of the season
FRUSTRATED Newtown & Chilwell coach Damien McMahon has conceded “we’re not where we’d like to be” following his side’s 38point loss to Bell Park.
McMahon also admitted the club’s big off-season of recruiting, designed to plug some gaps after last season, had not yet had the desired effect after losses to St Mary’s, Leopold and now the Dragons.
“There are some areas we have addressed, but collectively it hasn’t all come together,” McMahon said.
“There’s no doubt there’s still some holes in those gaps we thought we’d filled and haven’t been addressed as well as we would’ve liked them to be.
“The challenge for us is to keep positivity and the right vibe around the club that we’re on the right track.”
McMahon admitted some of the recruits had failed to reach the heights expected of them in the pre-season.
“We’ve got a lot of new players trying to find their feet and a lot of those players aren’t playing anywhere near the level they have previously,” he said.
“We’ve seen some really good improvement in some individuals, some have stagnated, some have dropped back and some of our new recruits haven’t quite hit their straps as we’d like them to, so once we can put that together I think we’ve got the nucleus of a really good group.” The second-year coach said his side “panicked a bit” once Bell Park clicked into gear in the second term, despite Luke Maddock’s best efforts to keep Dragons spearhead Jarrod Garth to one goal.
“We couldn’t finish off inside 50, which allowed Bell Park off the hook,” McMahon said.
“Like our first two games we had a quarter we were blown away in and ultimately that was the difference.”
Lockey McCartney (achillies tendon) and Bevan Shelley (soreness) will be monitored after being unable to run out the game.