Roos up for a contest in top-four showdown

CLARENCE coach Jeromey Webberley says contested ball is “king” at Richmond Oval today and whichever team conquers that will rule the day in the round nine TSL clash between the Roos and Lauderdale.

The Bombers go into the match searching for their third win in a row while the Roos aim to bounce back from their loss to Glenorchy.

Webberley demands his men do better this week,

“We got ourselves back into the contest against Glenorchy but I don’t think it ever looked like a Clarence game,” Webberley said.

“We were a little bit off the boil with our defensive intent and contest work.

“We had a really distinct plan on how we wanted to play and how we wanted to shut them down.

“And we just didn’t execute that at all. There’s only a game between three or four clubs and everyone is fighting for the last two positions in the top four.

“So every week counts. “And I reckon that’s good for footy.”

In the up-side-down world of the coronavirus, Clarence is playing its games at Richmond Oval while its traditional home at Blundstone Arena is deprived of goalposts.

“We’ve made Richmond our home and we’re excited to be back out there this week,” Webberley said.

“It’s going to be good for us to get onto Richmond and go back to basics.

“It’s a small oval – there’s not that much room out there so contested ball is king and hunger for the contest is king and we are looking forward to getting back to that this week.”

Lauderdale coach Darren Winter rates Clarence.

“We’ve played Launceston and North Launceston and they are quality teams,” Winter said.

“From a skill point of view and the way they went about their business, I thought Clarence was up there as one of the best teams we’ve played.

“We probably didn’t put enough work into North Hobart in the first round but we’ve put a lot of work into Clarence’s young blokes and some of their older blokes and we will have set plays on a lot of them.

“We will go in knowing that they can topple us in a game that is to stay in the finals race, so it’s a big game.”