Narrow loss ‘sat in the guts’ of Cats
LARA skipper Matt Spence says his side’s agonising onepoint loss to Geelong West has “sat in the guts” of his players for the past fortnight.
Narrowly falling short of their second win of the season, the Cats had plenty of time to stew over the performance ahead of tomorrow’s clash against premiership contender Colac.
“Yeah, definitely,” Spence said.
“We had the winter ball last week too, so we had a bit of time to talk about it. It sat in the guts a bit. It hurt.”
The Cats face one of the toughest tasks in the GFL, hosting the third-placed Tigers at Bisinella Oval.
“It is a big challenge, but one we’re looking forward to,” Spence said.
“We’ve had a solid month on the field and there’s no better test than coming up against Colac to see where we’re at.”
The Tigers have made a charge in recent weeks, winning their past six matches to emerge as a genuine premiership contender.
Spence believes his team’s Round 12 opponent is as good as it gets.
“Initially we thought, and still do to an extent, that Joeys were the best in the comp but Colac knocked them off,” Spence said.
“Anyone is capable of beating anyone at their best. We’ve got a lot of respect for Colac and always have had over the years, so I guess you could say they are as close to the benchmark as you can get at the moment.”
Seemingly at long odds to cause an upset, Lara will be aided by the absence of star Colac trio Jonathan Simpkin, Lochie Veale and Jarryn McCormack.
“It does help in a way because they are great players, but we understand that Colac’s got a very healthy list in terms of depth,” Spence said. “You’ve just got to look at their reserves, they’ve got a percentage of 500 and that shows they’ve got a lot of depth, and I’m sure with the players that do miss out they’ll replace them with handy players.”
The Cats have concerns of their own, however.
“We’ve copped a few injuries to a few young blokes in Brad McMaster and Tommy Hancock, and Jack Hancock did his ankle last week, so a couple of fellas who have had really good years have had a setback,” Spence said. “I think the injuries are fairly severe and they probably won’t be back for a month or more.”
Lara could also be without gun midfielder Mathew Stokes, who could be required in his role at Geelong for the Cats’ clash against St Kilda on Saturday night, while Darcy Bennett is a chance to play with VFL club Werribee.
“We just wait week to week with him,” Spence said of Bennett. “Hopefully we can get him, as he’s a very handy player. As is Stokesy.”
With a winnable match against Grovedale to follow, Spence believes the 11th-placed Cats have turned the corner in recent weeks.
“You could probably say that. The results have been pretty consistent from our point of view. We’ve been matching it with the good sides in the comp like Leopold and Bell Park, and West’s a good side when they’re up and going,” he said.
“I think we just put it down to sticking to the plan and buying into what (co-coach) Shayne Stone has set out for us at training.
“Us leaders are trying to drive some standards and cultures down at the club and we’re sticking to the process.”