Claws out to hang on in top five

TORQUAY coach Dom Gleeson concedes his side is out for redemption in today’s clash against ladder leader Barwon Heads.

The Tigers are bidding to turn the tables on the Seagulls, who claimed an 89point win back in Round 6. Torquay is also in a battle to retain fifth spot, with Modewarre (sixth) likely to claim victory over Portarlington.

“It is a big game,” Gleeson said. “The way we’ve handled the last month is we must win. We had a really challenging draw to start with and we dropped some games.

“Everyone comes out to knock off the premiers, and to go with it, there was the salary cap breach and everyone is fuelled to knock us off.

“We’ve had our challenges, which we knew would come, and as a group we managed to battle away but we couldn't get those wins.

“Barwon Heads taught us a lesson on their home deck. They’re an outstanding football team, but we’re certainly up for redemption.

“It was an embarrassing loss and, as a group, we learnt a lot from it. Time will tell if we’ve improved.”

The Tigers found themselves in a rut early, slumping to 2-4 to slip to seventh. But Gleeson stressed his side was undermanned after a host of changes in the off-season.

“It was almost 10 changes from our premiership side,” he said.

“Whether that be retirements, form, injuries, going overseas or moving on, there was a quite a lot of turnover and I probably had my head in the sand with that because I thought what we had would somewhat fill the void.

“They were all great role players for us, and to lose them all in one year, it was challenging to mould a side.

“There’s no doubt that with losses like that your confidence wanes.

“But we settled the crew, and we’re not saying it’s all fixed, but we feel confident after the month we’ve just had. We’ve learnt a lot.”

After winning four of its past five games, Gleeson believes his side can cause an upset over the Seagulls.

“I wouldn’t be playing footy if I didn’t think I could beat sides and play in grand finals and win them,” he said.

“That’s my mentality and the mentality of a young group.

“I feel we’ve turned a corner, but by no stretch do we think we’re out of the doldrums. We must win a good handful of the next remaining games to stay in the top five.”