NTFA division 1 2018, round 3: Pies slow to warm up, O’Sign calls for effort

The Magpies have fallen to two close losses in the opening rounds and will meet a Deloraine side riding the high of a win over George Town last weekend.

Coach Geoff Mohr said getting back to basics would be enough to turn around his side’s middling form. 

“Ever since I’ve been at the club we’ve started slow and dropped the first two games and managed to fight our way back, so it’s a situation we’re familiar with,” he said.

“We probably felt like we had the game under control (against Rocherlea last weekend) and to their credit they came back really hard and probably wanted it more in the end.”

Joe Robinson will come straight back into the Magpies lineup, while the Roos will cover Will Smith’s season-ending ACL injury with the likely return of Matthew Griffin and Jeremy and Jake Whatley.

Deloraine coach Brad Powe said his players had quickly reset their focus after last week’s rousing win.

“I was really rapt for the young guys, they put in a really solid pre-season and I was rapt for them to get some reward for effort in tough conditions,” he said.

“As soon as we got that win out of the way we put our focus on Scottsdale and realising they’re coming off 0-2 so they’ll be red-hot early.”

BRIDGENORTH spent its week off working on forward pressure and defensive transitions ahead of a Tamar Valley derby with George Town.

An injured Morgan Parker (neck) is the only omission for a Brady Demeijer-coached side looking to go 2-0.

“We went one win each from last year so we definitely won’t be taking them easy, they often give us a good game,” Demeijer said.

Saints coach Allan O’Sign will welcome co-captain Jack Hulse, Lachie Mason and Austin Maynard into the fold as his side seeks redemption after last weekend’s loss.

“I thought our effort was below par and we’ll be looking this week to redeem ourselves and to show our supporters what brand of footy we can play because last week was a bit embarrassing,” O’Sign said.

“(Bridgenorth) has got some good players across each line but I think we can use our pace to really get them on the outside and I’ll be backing our midfielders to go head to head and win that contest as well.”

BRACKNELL has been on the right side of two close games so far this season and will likely be drawn into another close contest when it hosts Hillwood.

The Sharks stayed with South Launceston for three quarters in their season opener last weekend and will be strengthened by the inclusion of Jake King, Andrew Whitmore and Ashley Salter.

Hillwood coach Jake Lowe his side faced two completely different challenges in meeting last year’s grand finalists in successive weeks.

“Bracknell are a totally different side - they don’t move the ball like South and they’ve got different personnel in terms of how they line up,” he said.

“This week we’ll be focusing on being first to the ball and when we have the ball we want to be cleaner with it – in particular going inside 50 a little bit more methodically than how we did last week.”

LONGFORD showed plenty of heart in a two-point loss to the Redlegs last weekend and are aiming to make the winners’ list for the first time with a trip to Rocherlea.

The Country Tigers will be boosted by the return of Zeke Gossage and Lachie Dakin as they look to spoil Rocherlea’s perfect 2-0 start to the season.

“I was very pleased with the effort last weekend, the boys battled away well in trying conditions,” coach Beau Thorp said.

“We didn’t quite get the chocolates, we fell that little bit short which is disappointing but the boys will learn a bit from last week and move forward ready to take on this week – they’re going to be a tough opponent.”

South Launceston has the bye.