By Colin MacGillivray
BROADFORD’S senior footballers are ruing a missed opportunity for an early-season victory, paying for a slow start against Yarra Glen in round two of the Outer East competition.
The Roos were outscored 0.1 (1) to 4.3 (27) in a lopsided first quarter but dominated the contest thereafter, registering 27 scoring shots to 15 for the remainder of the game.
Unfortunately for Broadford many of those scoring shots were behinds, as wayward kicking plagued the Roos’ comeback attempt in an eventual 8.17 (65) to 10.12 (72) defeat.
While the competitive result was a positive sign for a club that has endured many one-sided defeats in recent seasons, coach Jayden Welch lamented a chance gone begging.
“It took us a quarter to settle, really. We seemed rushed – we weren’t hitting targets and we were dropping easy marks,” he said.
“Once we started playing our brand of footy we really got on top – it’s just that we couldn’t convert in front of goal, which really hurt us.
“There were probably four or five shots that really should have gone through. Others were tough shots, but there were a few that you’d really like to think we’d kick.
“We need to rock up ready to go. For the second week in a row we’ve had a slow start, and if we didn’t have that slow start the game would have ended a lot differently.”
Despite the loss there were plenty of encouraging signs, with Dean Tydell and Sean Duggan combining for five goals in the Broadford forward line and Adam Miles excelling in the back line, while Jack Stevenson and captain Liam Lucas were good on ball.
With a tough home game against Alexandra looming on Saturday, Welch said his team would discuss the loss to work out what changes needed to be made.
“We can’t let the pressure get to us. I don’t know if that was the problem or not, but we’re going to have to have that conversation at our team meeting after training,” he said.
Netball
Broadford’s A Grade netballers made a strong start in their game against Yarra Glen but were unable to sustain the momentum, succumbing to the River Pigs by 10 goals.
Ebony Heers was the Roos best player in the 41-51 loss, while Kate Berger fought hard to notch 18 goals.
Broadford dropped to a 1-1 record with the loss and will attempt to rebound against Alexandra in front of a home crowd on Saturday.
