Effort, attitude key in Lara lift, says Stone

AFTER a combined losing total of 229 points in the opening two rounds of the season, a fresh attitude and renewed focus on effort has been the catalyst for change at Lara.

Cats coach Shayne Stone said despite not having a win to show from its first six games, the fight shown from his playing group had been “really pleasing”.

“We gave up a few times in those first two games, where now our main focus is staying in the moment and making sure we’re not giving up and letting things like scoreboard pressure affect us,” Stone said.

“Against St Mary’s (last Saturday), they’re so clean and they make you pay for your mistakes, but our effort and ability to stay in the contest and fight back at times was promising.

“They had some opportunities that in the past we would’ve conceded and they would’ve run away with a 100point result, but the boys have really cracked in and been a lot more competitive.”

Lara has been one of the GFL’s top tackling sides in 2022 with 64.2 per game, which is behind only Leopold (83.2) and Newtown & Chilwell (71.2).

Stone said the club’s style of play was focused around continual pressure, which would be expected again against Bell Park on Saturday.

“We’re focusing on learning how to defend in this competition and not slip tackles,” he said. “It’s a focus of ours to be hard at the footy and to put pressure on, and I think it comes down to effort and application, which has been really pleasing after the first two rounds.”