Bad half has the coach fuming

Tough lessons for both Hobart teams in season’s opening round

A RUSTY Hobart Chargers unit went down to Kilsyth last night in front of a strong home crowd at the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

Hobart coach Anthony Stewart was very pleased by the support his side received at its home venue, but he couldn’t say the same about his side’s effort after a costly first half saw the Chargers lose 80-72 to the much cleaner Cobras.

“It’s a great atmosphere,” Stewart said. “It’s a bit like the NBL. That’s probably the frustration that the group didn’t respond to that.”

Stewart was pulling no punches about the performances of his starting line-up.

“There are a lot of kids coming off the bench now,” he said.

“I need to get the belief in these kids that they can get it done. It’s really difficult to start dragging the starters, that is what they are paid for. I thought they were poor tonight.”

Hobart was trailing by 21 points at the major break, with the team shooting at 34 per cent from the field and a miserable 16.7 per cent for its threepointers. A lift in intensity in the second half helped it narrow the margin but the task was too big for the home side.

“I’m disappointed purely around the effort of the first half,” Stewart said. “Muo had a terrible night in the field.”

Recently crowned NBL championship winner Craig Moller impressed for Hobart, finishing the game with 22 points and 17 rebounds.

“A positive is probably Craig Moller with 17 rebounds,” Stewart said.

“He plays hard and hopefully now he is here we can turn the corner a little bit.”

Another positive was the younger players performing well off the bench, with 18year-olds Lochie Boucher and Jack Stanwix showing glimpses of form, along with 16-yearold Jacob Richards, who hit a three-pointer after only just coming into the game.