TIGER MAULING
THOMSON premiership coach Reece Holwell concedes he felt for a hapless Corio during Saturday’s 227-point drubbing.
The Devils went scoreless on a tough afternoon at Godfrey St Oval, unable to prevent a constant onslaught from the red-hot flag favourite.
The Tigers had a staggering 62 scoring shots, booting 33.29 (227), as the winless Devils went inside their forward 50 just five times.
“We didn’t set ourselves to keep them scoreless, we just wanted to play our brand of footy and it definitely stood up,” Holwell said post-match.
“Having the home-ground advantage, it certainly was a factor. They were probably a little bit undermanned, to be honest, and I said to their coach (Darren Bennett), ‘Look, you’ve got to stay positive with your group’.
“It’s quite tough with no wins and being on the bottom of the ladder, but their effort was there, even though it didn’t reflect on the scoreboard.
“We brought a couple of Agraders back into the side in (Luke) Forbes and Zac Plant came into the side and he’s played some good GFL footy, so we had a pretty good side out there.
“So times are tough for them, but there’s no doubt there was effort there. They just couldn’t put it on the scoreboard.”
Across four quarters, the Devils entered their forward 50 just five times, with the Tigers’ pressure unrelenting as they maintained their elite standards.
“Our back six were really good,” Holwell said. “After halftime they dropped two guys back into our forward line, so when they did win a clearance it was chopped off quite easily.”
Forbes and Paul Davis both kicked seven goals for the Tigers, who had 11 individual goalkickers.
Thomson was consistent across each term, kicking nine, nine, seven and eight goals respectively.
Inflicting the Devils’ 12th straight loss of the season and their second-worst deficit of 2019 — Thomson beat Corio by 235 points in Round 1, 259-24 — Holwell admitted he felt for the opposition’s onfield woes.
“You do feel for them a little bit,” he said.
“They keep rocking up every Saturday knowing they’re probably not going to win. But as I said, the effort was there, it was probably just the execution.
“Our pressure was quite good around the footy and it was one of those things where we had a really good day and they were a little bit down.
“We wanted to make sure we were playing properly and doing all the right things and weren’t taking shortcuts. They felt our best, I think.
“We didn’t take the foot off the gas. We know we’ve got to keep on improving, and it’s unfortunate for them that they didn’t score, but credit to the group that we stuck to our structures and played the way we wanted to play.”