GULL BUS ROLLS ON

BFL

UNBEATEN Barwon Heads has sent an ominous warning to the competition, thrashing finals hopeful Queenscliff by 100 points.

With champion footballer Mark Corrigan booting four goals in his debut, the Seagulls stretched their lead at the top of the table with a convincing victory at Howard Harmer Oval on Saturday.

Co-coach Mitch Herbison is adamant there is plenty of room for improvement ahead of this Saturday’s clash against Torquay.

“We’ve showed in the last couple of weeks that we’ve played better footy with each game that we’ve played,” Herbison said.

“As coaches we’ve got to make sure that we continue to drive that and lead the way for the players and make sure they’re hungry to get better and better.”

The Seagulls are shaping as the team to beat following wins over premiership contenders Ocean Grove, Geelong Amateur and Queenscliff in the opening rounds. But Herbison said the players refused to get ahead of themselves.

“Each week is a challenge for us at the moment,” he said. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks and we’ve just got to make sure that we keep building and building and get better and better.

“We’ve got another tough one against Torquay. They’ve got a great list and they’re well led by Dom (Gleeson) and ‘Raids’ (Ben Raidme), so it’s going to click for them eventually.

“We’ve just got to make sure that it’s not next week.”

The Seagulls overcame a sluggish start to belt the visitors on the back of a nine-goal-to-nil second term.

“We just weren’t clean with the footy early on,” Herbison said of his side’s first quarter. “A few mistakes meant we weren’t getting any efficiency going forward. But once we cleaned that up we were a lot more productive with our entries and we got the ball into some one-on-one contests, which was a good result for us.”

Corrigan was brilliant for the Seagulls, while Otto Opperman also impressed.

“It was a pretty even performance,” Herbison said. “It was great to get ‘Harry’ (Corrigan) in and he played well. Otto Opperman played his best game for the club, his workrate was fantastic for us.”

While the Coutas were disappointing, Herbison understands they were undermanned. “They certainly showed that they are a dangerous side when they get it on their terms,” Herbison said.

“But I thought our boys did a great job of playing the game in our half and our tackle pressure was the best it’s been for the year, I think.

“Once we get that right, it’s a lot easier for us to play good footy.”

Herbison said injured trio Brock Close, Tim Wight and Dylan Holland were still “a few weeks away” from returning.