Straight From The Sauce – Round 12 League & Reserves

A disappointing 100-point loss to the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, we are never ok with these results, and we will continue to fight and battle away. I do want to keep some perspective as I am really proud of the players as they continue to battle away, with the Crows having 20 players with AFL list experience, and 563 games to our 45, we came with an appetite to compete and to try and take the Crows on.

We started the game well by scoring the first goal of the game from a forward 50 stoppage with a nice finish from Max Beattie, Deakan Jackson also kicked a smart crumbing goal to keep us in the game.

Throughout the day we knew the challenge was going to lie when their game started to open up, we wanted to keep it a contested game as we felt this played into some of our strengths and took away one of theirs. We got done in contested ball, but we did out tackle them by 26 which shows that our players came with an attitude to compete and we may have got beaten to the ball, the Crows didn’t earn anything easily.

Cam Fleeton was very good down back, having a game high 9 spoils to go along with 5 tackles and 14 touches. Kobe Mutch had a strong game with 27 touches, 6 tackles and 6 clearances, and I thought Connor Ballenden, who against a very good defence fought well game and had 12 touches, 7 marks, 3 tackles and 1 goal.

Special mention must go to our debutant Jack Cook, who had 24 touches and played with a maturity beyond his years. He was composed with the ball and didn’t give the opposition an inch in defence. He has a bright future Jack and we look forward to watching him develop over the back end of the year.

Whilst we are in a challenging period, the players, coaches and club have been outstanding in supporting each other as we find ways to get back to our best form as soon as we can.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Maughan Thiem KIA Oval on Saturday.

Sauce

Sam Jacobs – Eagles Senior Coach

Coming into Round 12 was always going to be a big challenge. Training throughout the week was at a high and the old saying of “you play how you train” couldn’t be any more Truer.

From the start you could see this group was up for the challenge, pressuring Norwood every minute of game. Going into the last quarter we felt we had set ourselves up in a good position to keep pressuring and win the game. To the teams credit they did not stop and when challenged showed a lot of composure to get the game back on our terms.

It’s always a good in a win when you struggle to only have 5 best players, Brody Mair stood up all day in the midfield as well as Dave Brinker-Ritchie showing his leadership and Ruck skills. The young Under 18’s that have come up over the past few weeks certainly look ready for senior footy which is great to see (Jamie Russell-Swannson, Joel Hill, Jake Hall). A little mention to Under 18 Khye Maddern who was a very late call up on Saturday looked at ease during the game which was very pleasing.

We now take this confidence in to West Adelaide back at Maughan Thiem KIA Oval where we will be looking to get another win on the board.

Go Eagles!!!

Shane Hancock – Eagles Development Coach