Falcons still eyeing finals despite loss to Sandringham
GEELONG Falcons coach Dan O’Keefe says his side is still good enough to compete in TAC Cup finals despite slipping out of the top eight with a disappointing 18point loss to Sandringham.
The reigning premier led 32-3 when Blake Schlensog booted his second goal just four minutes into the second term, but it was one-way traffic from there, with the Dragons rebounding with the next eight goals to hand the Falcons their fifth loss from seven games, 8.12 (60) to 6.6 (42).
“Our first quarter was as good a footy I’ve seen all year; the unfortunate thing is we couldn’t finish it off, in fact, we let them back in the next quarter,” O’Keefe said.
“We’ve just got to try find the balance between continuing with momentum we gain and not letting an opposition in to take momentum off us.”
Finlay Parish was a shining light for the Falcons, who were without stars Sam Walsh (illness) and Brayden Ham (managed).
“Fin Parish, his development over the last 12 months has been phenomenal,” O’Keefe said.
“He continued to play a really pivotal role and played his best TAC Cup game for us.
“Our wingers, Doyle Madigan and Sam Torpy, were also really good.
“We tapped Sam Walsh out late today because he was a little bit sick and we gave Brayden Ham and Jesse Clark, even though they were slightly injured, we’re managing their load this weekend.
“You throw those type of players in there, it probably would have been enough to get us over the line.”
O’Keefe said it was important his side kept striving for a finals finish ahead of a challenge with Gippsland Power this Sunday.
“It’s important to finish top eight, certainly, and we’re certainly capable of finishing top-eight or above,” he said.
“The hard thing to comprehend is that we believe we're a good enough side to beat a Sandringham today and beat a Murray in Round 3 and beat Western Jets last week.”