Sharks run at full throttle
GEELONG brought its A game to the top-of-the-table men’s Vic League 1 clash at Stead Park on Saturday and came away with a 1-0 win against main premiership rival Yarra Valley.
The Sharks delivered on coach Paul Schram’s main wishes — a fast start and a full four-quarter effort — to maintain their unbeaten run for the season and widen the gap over Yarra Valley to nine points with six matches to go.
The fast start saw youngster Jayden Schram put Geelong on the board in the third minute and while it was to be the only score of the match, Yarra Valley was on the back foot throughout.
“We got the scoreboard pressure on them straight away which is something we hadn’t done lately,” Paul Schram said after the match.
“We changed a bit of our warm-up routine today and that really helped. It got the guys up to game speed a little quicker than normal.”
The four-quarter effort was the most pleasing aspect for Schram.
“The benefit of today was that it was a full four quarters. I’ve said many times we hadn’t played that all year and today it was. And we brought it at the right time, at home and against No. 2 in the league,’’ he said. He praised the group as a whole with “a full 70-minute effort from somebody on each line”.
Club champion Greg Hutchison marked his 200th game with his usual starring role, while youngster Jayden Schram starred in attack, Scott Cullen led the defence and skipper Jack Chadwick controlled the midfield.
Meanwhile, a bad opening term proved costly for the women’s Premier League team against Greensborough at Stead Park.
Greensborough nailed three goals in five minutes during the first quarter, eventually winning 5-1.
Geelong lifted its game after quarter-time with coach Shane Walters left to rue what might have been. “The second and third quarters we were all over them, especially the third quarter we should have put a couple in,’’ Walters said.
“I think we had more corners than them for the day and more circle entries. They were probably just a bit better in the circle with their ball use.
“It’s a disappointing loss. I said to the girls we learnt a lot out of today. We challenged them with a couple of things that were a bit different today which they responded to.”
Erica White, Eliza Flanagan, Emma Hatton and Zoey Bicknell were Geelong’s better players.