Injury woes leave Torquay without much-needed experience
ONE by one, Dom Gleeson went to his players.
A hug. A pat on the head. A message in the ear.
It’s all the Torquay coach could offer his forlorn players in the minutes after Saturday’s 34-point loss to Drysdale at McCartney Oval.
You could tell the 13.13 (91) to 8.9 (57) defeat really cut deep for the Tigers, who fell out of the BFL’s top five just three weeks after sitting on top of the table.
The injury-riddled Tigers tried hard, but fell short of a high-class Drysdale in conditions that favoured contested footy.
“Just remain positive,” Gleeson said when asked what the message was to his players.
“It’s Round 13, we’re 8-5 and still above the ledger.
“You look back (a few) weeks ago and we were on top of the ladder. We were 8-2 and things were looking swimmingly. It can turn really quickly now.
“We have our own dramas with injuries and whatnot, and we are slowly getting them back.
“So I feel like the latter part of the year we will get everyone back fit and we will make a tough, bit of a charge. We will assess it (our performance) during the week. There’s not much to say after the game. We are a bit flat, but a far better side won.”
Gleeson isn’t making excuses when he talks about his team’s injury list. The Tigers were without Billy Henderson, Paul McMahon, James Saker and Roscoe Holmes on Saturday. Henderson and McMahon in particular were big outs, with Torquay’s forward line down in firepower.
Youngster Will Tamassy kicked three for the Tigers, showing promising signs for the future. “I just loved what the kids did,” Gleeson said.
“(Nathan) Mifsud and Tamassy. I love their competitive edge and playing them forward. As the weeks roll on, hopefully we can get some more games into them.
“It does (hurt) when you don’t have a target to kick to. But we felt that Tamassy and Mifsud offered that to us. (Callum) Currie gave us a target, (Josh) Chapman, (Matt) Deledio. We certainly had targets but we just need that A-grade back in.”
Experienced heads Sam Wormald, Ben Raidme and Gleeson stood tall for the Tigers, while Kyle Bienefelt was also a solid contributor.