General News
29 July, 2019
Pies fall short against Port
CAMPERDOWN co-coach Jack Williams has refused to shut the door on his side’s Hampden league football finals hopes despite losing to Port Fairy on Saturday.
CAMPERDOWN co-coach Jack Williams has refused to shut the door on his side’s Hampden league football finals hopes despite losing to Port Fairy on Saturday.
Williams, who missed for the second week, said the Magpies would rue a missed opportunity after suffering a 13.13 (91) to 10.16 (76) defeat and South Warrnambool was beaten by Cobden.
A victory would have moved Camperdown eight points adrift of the Roosters in seventh position ahead of a block of winnable games to finish the year.
But Williams has now conceded almost everything has to fall perfectly for his side to grab an unlikely finals berth.
“We’d have to have everything go our way, not just with our results but with the other games too,” he said.
“Obviously with South losing on the weekend, that makes our loss massive because if we had have won we’d only be a game outside the five.
“All we can do really is try and win our last four games and put our best foot forward to sneak in.
“Hopefully we have everything else fall into place, but we definitely haven’t closed the door on it though.”
The Magpies had multiple chances to secure their victory against the Seagulls, with several shots in the last quarter missing as they made a charge for victory.
Also compounding their woes was nine behinds in the second quarter when the visitors were a man down, with the hosts entering the main break two points behind when they should have been comfortably ahead.
“It’s obviously disappointing again considering we again got so close and didn’t get the job done,” Williams said.
“But like I said after the game, we’re getting close to winning these games, we just need to iron a few things out with our skills and accuracy in front of goals.
“We had our chances in the last quarter but we just couldn’t put in on the scoreboard and that proved the difference in the end.”
Williams said there were a number of standout performers for the Magpies but added he could not fault anyone for their efforts.
“Luke Mahony was a standout with his pressure and second and third efforts around the ball,” he said.
“I thought our back line stood out all day, like Billy Arnold and Luke O’Neil (were good), Bayley Thompson was good on the wing using his pace to his advantage and Will Rowbottom was solid in the ruck too.
“But all across the board there wasn’t anyone that didn’t play their role which was pleasing.”
Camperdown is now set for a road trip to Hamilton to play the Kangaroos in a night game, with that match presenting the Magpies with a last ditch bid to keep their finals hopes alive.
Williams said winning the contest was extremely important for his side but knows they must adjust their preparations to do so.
“We’ll have to change our routine a little bit and make sure we’re not moping around during the day but obviously the importance of this week is to get a win for starters and then boost our percentage,” he said.
“We’re not only looking to win, we want to get that percentage up to give us that chance of potentially playing finals.”
Meanwhile the reserves and under 18.5s continued their charges towards finals football, with both sides registering impressive victories.
The reserves kept the Seagulls goalless in the opening quarter en route to their 11.7 (73) to 3.4 (22) win, with Jake O’Flynn kicking three majors to lead his side to victory.
He was well supported by James Henry, who was best on ground, Dave Young, Devon Coates, Isaac Stephens, Chris Dendle and Daniel Hickey.
And the under 18.5s recorded a healthy 26.13 (169) to 1.8 (14) victory against an undermanned Port Fairy outfit.
Henry Hocking (six goals), Zach Sinnott (four) and Keiran Coburn (four) led the goal kickers and were named in the best players alongside Josh Place, Harry Sumner and Toby Kent.