Eagles ‘ outplayed’ in top- of- table clash
NEWTOWN & Chilwell coach Damien McMahon concedes his side was dealt a “wake- up call” in Saturday’s 21- point loss to reigning premier St Joseph’s.
Suffering their first defeat of the season, McMahon admitted his team was “outplayed” in every facet of the game in the top- of- the- table clash at Elderslie Reserve.
McMahon labelled his side “disappointing”, admitting the Eagles had few winners on the day in the 8.14 ( 62) to 6.5 ( 41) loss.
“It’s a bit of a wake- up call for us,” McMahon said.
“There’s no doubt they’re still the best team in the competition.
“It’s obviously something we’re striving to do ourselves, but we’ve got a lot of work to do before we get to that level.”
Missing key players Alex Cincotta, Nelson Browne, Jacob Sharp and Mitch Diamond, Newtown was outclassed by a side that was also missing a host of stars.
But the result did nothing to dampen the side’s confidence or belief, according to McMahon.
“Last year Joeys had a period of time where they dropped a few games and everyone thought they were gone and they came back in really good form in the back end of the season,” McMahon said.
“We know we’ve got some really good players to get back in our side, and I know they’ve got the same, so I think we’ll get stronger as the season goes on.
“What we’ve got to look forward to is better conditions. We’re generally a quick side, and the heavier the track is, the more the mature bodies lap the conditions up.
“That’s our fifth game in a row on a heavy deck and we’ll certainly relish playing on some faster decks. They will suit us better, but we’ve got to learn to win in all conditions.”
Luke Maddock continued his run of good form with another strong performance for the Eagles, while Blake Sutterby and Braden Hocking were prolific ball- winners on a day where the footy had to be won.
But McMahon was left to lament a wasteful third term, in which the Eagles dominated for large portions, only for St Joseph’s to snatch back the momentum with two late goals.
“I think that’s where we lost the game,” McMahon said.
“We had momentum in that quarter and we had fantastic opportunities to score, but we didn’t and we were running out of time at that stage.
“We knew it was going to be tough in the last quarter if it ( margin) was plus- four goals on a day like today ( Saturday).
“We were a bit stiff, we dropped a mark in the goalsquare with the first play of the quarter. If we marked that and kicked the goal, we were away.
“That was the story of our day. We dropped a few marks within range — 20 to 30 metres out — and that would’ve brought us a little closer and put more pressure on the opposition.
“At the end of the day, they had 24 scoring shots, we had 11, so the scoreboard probably flattered us, really.”
McMahon said his side’s inability to make it “an even numbers game” proved to be decisive.
“They were able to roll numbers back really well. We knew they’d do that, we talked about it, we trained for it, but still they did it better than we’d like them to and we didn’t adjust to that well enough,” McMahon said.