CARLTON'S VFL affiliate the Northern Bullants went down to the Coburg Tigers on Saturday in a close encounter at ABD Group Stadium.
It was the Bullants' ninth loss for the season, and leaves them one game adrift of the seventh-placed Tigers, but they remain in the eight by four points from Sandringham and Geelong.
Coach David Teague shares his thoughts on the match and how some of the Carlton-listed players performed.
It was a very disappointing loss on the weekend. The boys all tried hard, so there wasn't a lack of effort out there, it was just that Coburg was a little bit more desperate and their resolve was a little bit greater than ours.
Had we won that game, we would have set ourselves up really well to have a crack at the finals, but we're still just a chance because we're eighth and have a few good opponents coming up.
We're going to have to play some good footy to make it.
There was a reasonably strong breeze and we knew at three-quarter time that we needed to go on with it. We kicked the first goal in the last to give ourselves a sniff, but they ran over the top of us.
We did that to them earlier in the year and they got one back on us.
The quarter that killed us the most was the first. We got outscored against the breeze and then we worked our way back into the contest in the second and had a good third, but we couldn't quite hang on.
We've been a bit up and down lately, and I don't know if there's any real reason for it. I suppose it just depends on how we turn up. We had a much better attitude on the weekend, compared to the one we had two weeks before, but Coburg was a good side and they had some good players in.
We lost Cain Ackland before the game with a hamstring after he kicked seven goals the week before, and that really hurt us. They were a bit short in the backline, and had he played I would have been a lot more confident of a win.
He was playing some really good footy and he's been hitting the gym as well so he's getting big and strong, and it's pretty hard to defend someone who's as powerful as he is.
A positive for us was the efforts of Richard Hadley. He had 19 touches and seven tackles in half a game of football, which was great for his first game back.
This week will be the challenge for Richard because your second game back is always harder, as Ryan Houlihan found against Coburg.
Luke Blackwell was very good on the ball and pushed forward to kick a couple of goals as well, which was the task we set him.
Darren Pfeiffer was one player that tried hard all day and he finished with 13 tackles – an amazing effort.
We didn't get any injuries, finishing the match unscathed, although a couple of boys went into the game with niggles. Adam Hartlett had a bit of a groin but he got through.
We're not sure if we'll get anyone back this week. Eddie Betts will probably go into the seniors, so we may get one for him if he does. If not, the seniors will keep a pretty similar side after their good win.
We've got North Ballarat, who are top of the table, so it's going to be a really tough game. We beat them earlier in the year and we match up against them really well, so if we can turn up with our pressure at its best, then we're a chance.
Coburg Tigers 3.2 6.8 7.13 11.20 (86)
Northern Bullants 2.4 6.6 10.9 11.9 (75)
GOALS
Coburg Tigers: C. Hyde 3, C. Collard 3, A. Graham 2, G. Tivendale, N. Caruso, D. Connors
Northern Bullants: R. Jackson 2, D. Boundy 2, J. Edwards, L. Blackwell, A. Hartlett, A. O'hAilpin, R. Hadley, D. Pfeiffer, S. Jacobs
BEST
Coburg Tigers: C. Hyde, C. Howat, D. Polo, J. Oakley-Nicholls, A. Horne, D. Connors
Northern Bullants: L. Blackwell, J. Bannister, D. Pfeiffer, R. Hadley, A. Iacobucci, D. Boundy
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
