Gleeson says ‘sloppy’ off-season is to blame for Tigers’ slow start

AN EMBARRASSED Torquay coach Dom Gleeson has blamed a lack of buy-in and mental application for his side’s biggest defeat in seven years.

The Tigers were given an old-fashioned flogging by Barwon Heads, with eight Seagulls registering multiple goals in the 89-point hiding at Howard Harmer Oval.

At no stage could Gleeson’s men wrest momentum, with the home side stretching a 39-point quarter-time margin at every interval.

The reigning premier has slipped to 2-4, with Gleeson pointing to a sloppy off-season and a host of departed players for his side’s slow start.

The toll of the salary cap saga, where the club was fined heavily and publicly shamed for breaching the spending limit last year, is also starting to become apparent.

“I think it’s the mental application and the buy-in (that needs to change first),” he said.

“I was concerned over preseason about the buy-in and the attendance, and it’s shining through now.

“I think people got complacent, but we did lose the league medallist and the best ruckman in the competition and one of the best full-forwards in the competition.

“If you rip the spine out of a club, you’re going to struggle. We lost some guys that jell the group together as well — Dave Allitt, James Darke, Scott Hughes — the list goes on.

“You just don’t know how good they are until they’re gone.

“We thought we recruited pretty well, but with the cap and the points we’re ham-

strung a little bit going into the season.”

Gleeson added that his players were “all a bit fatigued from footy” after last year’s salary cap breaches rattled the club on the eve of the season.

But he said finals remained a carrot for his team.

Jake Reeves’ early season form has been one of the shining lights for the Tigers and he was again the pick of his side on Saturday.

“We’re 2-4 and nothing would be more shattering than to miss finals,” he said.

“I’m fortunate in my three years that we have made finals and we don’t want to fall short of that aim.

“We haven’t played consistent footy for the season yet.

“I was really confident coming to a little ground at Barwon Heads — I know they were red hot — but I was really confident we’d stick it to them. We keep talking about the big changes we’ve had and the inconsistencies of the young group and it really shone through today.

“We’ve got that problem of stopping the bleeding and we couldn’t nullify it today.

“The most disappointing thing for me is the dropping of heads, the young guys, and it’s the education of taking the good and the bad, and we’re not taking the bad all that well throughout games.”