The Northern Knights have suffered their second defeat of the year, this time against arch rivals the Calder Cannons. After a commanding opening quarter the Cannons achieved an early lead that the Knights were unable to rope in, with the quarter time margin being very similar to the full time margin.
Key forward Michael Still, in only his second game, got the Knights off to a great start by kicking two early goals, but it was all Calder up until first break. Aside from the first few minutes there was very little supply for the Knights forwards, with Calder doing a great job through the midfield to prevent the Knights from entering their forward 50.
The intensity Calder were playing with was ensuring that they were getting first use of the ball and forcing the Knights to turn it over when they were getting their hands on it. Knights Coach Paul Satterley saw his teams use of the ball as a big area of concern in the match. “The amount of turnovers that we had by hand and foot is not good enough at this level.”
The Knights responded well to the challenge from Satterley to lift their work rate in the second quarter, however they were left to rue wasted opportunities in front of goal after kicking 4.7 for the term, with Still and Captain David Zaharakis scoring two each.
Calder had their own battles with accuracy in the third quarter and looked to be keeping the door open for the Knights when they scored three behinds in a row, only for Jake Walsh to respond with his first goal after a strong contested mark. However, the rest of the quarter belonged to the Cannons kicking six goals to one, which gave them a healthy 41 point lead heading into the last.
Satterley has been left wondering what creates this inconsistency in the playing group after a second half fade out in last weeks match too. “I don’t know whether it’s the long break that they’re struggling to come back from half time, but that’s the second week in a row where our third quarter has really let us down. So that’s the challenge that continues to present itself to us – to play four quarters of footy.”
The Knights managed to peg back a bit of respectability on the scoreboard in the final term by outscoring the Cannons four goals to two, but the damage had already been done. Still capped off a good day by kicking his fifth goal, while Zaharakis who was named best on ground for the Knights for the second week in a row ended with four of his own.
Michael Brunelli put in another good and hard performance across half back and the wing. Debutant Shannon Coughlan impressed deep in defence playing on Cannons captain Dylan Joyce, but for the second week in a row it was a game where many players drifted in and out of the game, rather than putting together four solid quarters.
Satterley was disappointed to see his side start the year off 0-2, but was also optimistic in his outlook, drawing on last years eventual Preliminary Final appearance. “When I look at last year, we were sitting 1-2 after three games, so whilst we are 0-2 there’s still a lot of belief.
“We’ve got a lot of young first year players and this is all just part of the learning curve for them. I think we’ve got the talent, but the talent just isn’t been matched by work ethic so far.”
Satterley also pointed out that there’s two major ins for next week with Michael Hurley and Tom Hill returning from their trip is the AIS/AFL Scholarship program. “We’ve been struggling a bit at centre half forward so hopefully one of them can come in and fill that role. We’ve just got to keep making changes until we find the right mix.”
Calder Cannons 16.14.110 def. Northern Knights 12.12.84
Goals: Still 5, Zaharakis 4, Walsh 2, Dufficy 1
Best: Zaharakis, Still, Brunelli, Coughlan, Cachia, Grimes
Last Modified on 19/05/2008 16:24