Trevor Jackson
Glencoe 18.28 (136) d Nangwarry 2.5 (17)
It was another tough day at the office for the Nangwarry Football Club.
The Saints headed to Glencoe to take on the Murphies in Round 12 of Mid South East football and returned home with a big loss.
Inaccurate kicking in front of goal by the victors flattered the final result somewhat, with the Murphies banging on one major score and 10 behinds in the opening term to set the scene.
The difficult conditions were not conducive to accurate kicking but the Murphies still managed to find 18 majors throughout the day.
Nine individual goal scorers contributed, with Henry Smith kicking five majors, while Dylan Pfitzner (4), Jason Bates (2) and Alex Hentschke (2) all contributed multiple goals.
Andrew Hyland kicked both of Nangwarry’s goals.
Victorious coach Tom Edwards was pleased with the result, more so for the fact his side was able to implement its game plan and show improvement.
“It was good to get a win,” he said.
“We have been improving over the last six weeks, so it was reward for effort.”
Facing the Saints in 2022 is a different scenario than in the past.
Nangwarry has been a better side and claimed its first win for many years back in Round 10.
The Saints have pushed sides on several occasions this season and Edwards said approaching the game was all about respect.
“I always talk about respecting the opponent whether they are bottom of the ladder or top,” he said.
“Nangwarry always come hard at the start of each quarter and they did the same on the weekend.
“We knew if we could tame that, work our way forward and try to kick the goals we would be right.
“We managed to do that in the end.”
One of the biggest problems the Murphies faced came from their own hand.
In front of goals has been an issue this season, which Edwards said needed attention.
“Last week we kicked 6.18 and this week it was 18.28,” he said.
“It is something we have to work on.
“We are getting plenty of the ball and working it down the ground pretty well, so we just have to work on finishing off and making the most of the opportunities.”
Despite the inaccuracy, the Murphies had plenty of opportunities to score.
Edwards said he was pleased with one particular positional change which reaped rewards.
“Dylan Pfitzner usually plays across half back and we moved him down forward to try to give us a bit extra and another option,” he said.
“He gave us a lot of leads and marked the ball well all day.
“He was our best player and will probably continue to play that forward role for a while.”
Edwards said he is pleased with the improvement of his side and rues a couple of games in the first half of the season which he felt they let slip.
“The last four weeks we have been building and playing good footy,” he said.
“We were a little bit disappointed in the first half of the season.
“We dropped a couple of games we should have won but we have made a few changes and are looking on the way up.
“We hope in the second half of the season we can win those games we narrowly lost and hopefully challenge for a few more.”
A big test will be this weekend when the Murphies face Robe on the road.
“The last time we played Robe we were with them for three quarters and let them get away in the end,” Edwards said.
“We are looking for a four-quarter effort this week and can hopefully get a win.”
