Brahma Lodge Football Club

Brahma Lodge travelled down Churchill road to take on CBCOC on a postage stamp! Ground size aside, we were confident, even though we had 8 players unavailable from the week before. After such an impressive display vs Eastern Park, it was put on the players that a let down this week would undo all our hard work from the first 4 weeks. Russell Mott was our stand in captain for this match in the absence of Dave Krieg, and won the toss kicking to the northern end.

A very scrappy first quarter saw us take a 1 goal lead into the break. We knew then that it was going to be a battle, as space was at a premium and winning the contested footy would be the key to getting the win. Our backline was working hard, with Matthew Tilbrook leading the way. Chad Wilkinson was looming large for us at FF, however our ball use coming forward, and slowness to dispose of it, meant quite often a 1-3 contest against Chad. Brett Jensen and Patty were getting their hands on the footy in the ruck, but we were not being smart with our positioning around the contest.

The second quarter was our best quarter for the match, and we took a 3 goal lead into half time. George Halteh and Jayden Tau were impressive in getting their hands on the ball. Jayden's toughness on the ball meant he was always first in at the contest, something I am sure some of the players can learn from. The backline continued their impressive form, although a couple of their goals came about due to poor marking through the middle and defense. At half time, the mood was upbeat, or possibly too upbeat. The hard word was put on the side to lift again, as we were what felt like 50% down on our efforts from the week before.

Unfortunately, the 3rd quarter came and went, and even though the margin was still 16 points in our favour, we couldn't kill them off. CBCOC had a massive amount of possession in the 3rd quarter, but luckily for us could not hurt us on the scoreboard. We were extremely lazy in our accountability and work rate, and it was showing with CBCOC, even on a small oval, getting free men through the centre of the ground.

5 minutes of good footy to start the last quarter would have seen us finish the game, and although we kicked the first goal in the first couple minutes, this was the end of our good play. Our players seemed to think the game was over, and really took their foot off the pedal. CBCOC kicked the last 4 goals of the match, and were 6 point winners. Throughout the whole second half, it felt as if they controlled 75% of the match, and probably should have won by 6-7 goals.

Our best players were few and far between. George Halteh, who was sick coming into the match, was clearly our best on ground. If only some of the lads copied his work ethic and willingness to win the hard footy. Jayden Tau and Chad Wilkinson were very good, Chad inparticular with 7 goals. Matthew Tilbrook played his best game for us, and is a positive as every week he has been improving. This match reminded us, that if we are off by 10-15% from our best, we clearly wont win matches.

Even though CBCOC were 4-0 coming into this match, throughout the match it felt as if we could finish them off with 10 minutes of good footy, which never eventuated. The group needs to develop the killer instinct, where we can finish sides off. All jokes aside about the previous years sides, we have a good list who can achieve something that the previous sides didn't, and push for finals come season end. 2 losses for 15 points isn't that bad on the surface, but the way we went down does not sit very well!

The guys will need to regroup for this weekend, as for the 3rd week running, we are playing an undefeated side. This time it's Paynhem, and if we play anywhere near what we did on Saturday, the scoreline will not be so flattering. Here's hoping they can lift and get our season back on track, as we are now right back with the chasing pack.

Cheers
Masha