‘Great year’ counts for nought in devastating loss
BARWON Heads co-coach Mitch Herbison concedes his side dished up its worst performance of the season in Saturday’s grand final loss to Modewarre.
Crushed by 47 points at Mortimer Oval, Herbison said his players were “gutted” to fall at the final hurdle, having claimed the minor premiership and belted the Warriors a fortnight earlier.
“It’s pretty disappointing to have a great year up until this point and it’s a pretty hard thing to take,” he said.
“To Modda’s credit, they were too good on the day. “We’ve got to wear it.” Speaking to a sombre playing group in the moments after the match, Herbison urged his side to harness the pain of defeat and use it as motivation next season.
“It’s hard to find the words to the playing group that will do it justice,” he said.
“It’s obviously a bitter pill to swallow, but we’ve got a talented young group and we’ve got to use it as a driving force, not only next year, but for the years to come.
“We need to acknowledge the feeling, harness it and use it as a driving force next year.”
Kicking 5.16, Barwon Heads wasted plenty of opportunities.
And Herbison said his charges’ ball use, not only shots on goal, was the worst of the season.
“We certainly had a lot of opportunities. We had our fair share of scoring shots and we didn’t take those. We probably just weren’t as clean with the footy as Modda were,” he said.
“We’re a side that prides ourselves on doing the basics well and we just didn’t get it right today.”
Herbison refused to blame a soft preparation, having enjoyed a week’s break after a comfortable second semi-final victory, for the lacklustre effort.
“It’s probably easy to sit back and think it’s not a good thing, but I thought our preparation was pretty good leading up,” he said.
“The boys trained well, they trained hard for the two weeks leading up until today, but, unfortunately, we didn’t put our best footy on the park. “It’s really disappointing.” Fellow co-coach Bobby Wallace cut a forlorn figure post-match, having bowed out in crushing circumstances.
“He finishes up today, which further sours the feeling that we weren’t able to send Bobby out in the right way,” Herbison said.
“He played his 200th game and his last game for the club and it’s disappointing we couldn’t send him off the way we would’ve liked.”
Once the dust settles, Barwon Heads will have some serious decisions to make. With Wallace standing down as co-coach, Herbison said he was no certainty to continue in the role.
“I’ll sit down with the club and have a bit of a chat over the next few weeks. I’ll definitely play, but I’ll have to work out the coaching situation,” he said.
“Being part of the process and Bobby stepping down as coach, we’ll look to something to fill in that role as well.
“Whether I continue or not . . . I’ve been part of the process until now and I’ll continue to be involved and help make a decision that’s in the best interest of the club.”