Demons playing catch-up as cellar dwellers turn tables
PORTARLINGTON coach Jesse Smith has challenged his players to make sure the Demons are not cut adrift from the BFL after their loss to Newcomb yesterday.
The bottom-placed Dees were overrun after halftime by a relentless Power, with the 36point loss consigning them to their third defeat of the season.
With perennial woodenspooner Newcomb finding a new level after an undefeated start to 2019 and Drysdale (eighth last year) suddenly in premiership contention, the gap has never been wider between Portarlington and the clubs previously at the bottom of the ladder.
“Port and Newcomb have always been down the bottom and there is no shying away from that,” Smith said.
“This year Newcomb has come out and started well … but I think that’s lifted our guys and challenged us.
“We don’t want them or the Drysdales to get too far ahead of us because they are the sides we have beaten over the last couple of years.
“We have got to keep the gap small and keep bridging it week by week if we can and keep staying in touch with the sides we were beating.”
Portarlington’s commitment and desire could not be faulted in its home Good Friday clash.
The Dees were relentless in the contest in the first half, but ran out of legs after the main break.
Leading by 13 points at halftime, Portarlington struggled to hit the scoreboard as the Power got its running game going.
Five unanswered goals in the third term gave Newcomb an 18-point lead going into the final quarter.
But with injuries taking their toll and limited rotations off the bench, Portarlington couldn’t drag the margin back in.
“We had a specific plan to beat them in close and in the contest, so we tried to outnumber them as much as we could in the contest and that worked for the first half,” Smith said.
“They got more outside run than we could generate in the second half and just ran over us in the end.
“We ended up with no bench, a couple of injuries so the rotations hurt us.
“Mick McNeill (knee), our centre-half forward, and Shaun Ward our full back (suffered injuries) in the first five minutes, Jess Rapa our ruckman had some concussion.”
Daniel Measures was clearly Portarlington’s best player, showing plenty of class. Ross Celano won a stack of the footy off halfback as did Brock Williamson on a wing, while Lucas Farrugia also competed hard and kicked two goals.
Smith said he was “super proud” of his team’s first half and said he could only take positives from the Demons’ performance.
“It’s a big improvement on last week in the 107-point loss to Ammos and the week before that was 138 points to Anglesea,” he said.
“I’ve challenge the boys, we’ve changed some things in our game plan and today we saw the start of hopefully some better performances to come.”