Seagulls come close to major GFL upset

outside of that, there were nothing but positives.”

Staring at a 15-point deficit at three-quarter time, Darley threw “caution to the wind”.

“We kicked six goals and they’d kicked eight up until three-quarter time, so we weren’t going to kick six goals in the last quarter,” Darley said.

“So to try and open the game up and get a bit of a roll on, I just said, ‘Throw caution to the wind’. I’d prepared us to go out and lose by 10 goals having a crack, and we did have a crack in the last quarter, than play it safe and keep it two goals the difference.

“The boys were outstanding in the last quarter. Their effort can’t be faulted, and despite it not being the scoring end, I thought we still looked really dangerous.

“The have responded really well this year and offensively we don’t really have a structure. I want blokes to play on instinct and enjoy playing footy like they did when they were underage. I just told them to go back to basics.”

Darley will harp on the positives, but he will address the moment it all unravelled.

“I said to them ‘Don’t be pleased, be disappointed’ but we’ll come to training with areas to improve on,” Darley said.

“But a lot of the supporters that watched today could see for a vast majority of the game that we’re an improved football side.

“We can be excited about what Round 2 holds for us and the rest of the year. I know personally that if we bring that effort every week, and we can maintain it for that little bit longer, we’re going to surprise a few sides.”

North Shore will set to regain Kane Collins from suspension, while Bailey Ettridge got through the reserves after an interrupted pre-season and should return next week.