Coaches Report”

Hi All,

 On Saturday, after a enforced break due to COVID we went out to Webb Oval to take on top placed Glenunga.

Following the lockdown we had trained really well and were all excited to be back into the real stuff (games).

 Unfortunately we were shown up by a very strong and efficient Glenunga side. In the end we went down by 9 goals.

 My message to the players and supporters following the game is that although we were convincingly beaten we showed some good signs and at the moment our injury toll is hurting us.

 For any side at Amateur league level it is very hard to compete at the same capacity with key players out. On the weekend we were down to 1 player on the bench just before half time. That restricts rotations and also makes it hard for us as coaches to change things up.

Despite all this, as I said, we showed some good signs on the weekend. Our ball movement or intent of ball movement was much better, the issue was that we couldn’t execute either from a skill perspective or a decision making perspective. However, the good news is that we have done this well previously, our skills and decision making is as good as any side in the comp. This gives me great confidence that we can get back to this very quickly (we need to).

 Better players for the weekend were Henry Papatolis, Tom Unger, Austin Forbes, Declan Grant and Steve Williams in his first A grade game for some time.

On the weekend we also had another debutant in Fergus Agnew. Ferg started this season in the C grade and progressed to be very consistent in our B grade best players. His work rate and attack on the ball is very good and on the weekend I thought he acquitted himself very well.

This week we are back home when we take on Seaton in what is now a huge game! We need all the support we can get.

Go Phantoms!

Regards,

Damian Minervini