Falcons head back to the drawing board

GEELONG Falcons coach Daniel O’Keefe went to the whiteboard after his team’s narrow two-point loss to Sandringham Dragons yesterday.

In a throwback to some old-school coaching techniques, O’Keefe got his players to put up what was good, bad and ugly in the 9.15 (69) to 11.5 (71) defeat.

“I told them to tell me. We spoke about what the bad was, what the ugly was in terms of the couple of things that cost us the game and then we finished on the goods or the opportunities that will make us better going forward,” O’Keefe said.

“There were a few clips in there as well, which were probably deserved. It was more around coachability than anything in regards to certain players following instructions and playing their roles … or a lack of it, really.”

The Falcons had more scoring shots and kicked with the aid of a strong breeze in the final quarter, but just couldn’t get their noses in front.

Draft hopeful Ned McHenry kicked a goal with less than three minutes remaining to get the Falcons within two points, but they just could not find the matchwinner.

“We were two goals down going into the last quarter (with the wind), the game was probably ours to win,” O’Keefe.

“It was at least a three goal breeze. We had a chance to win the whole way down.

“It’s more frustrating than disappointing. We had eight more scoring shots than a side that’s basically at full strength.”

Brayden Ham was the best player on the ground for either team playing off half back, while Sam Conway, Blake Schlensog and Lachlan Smith were all solid contributors.