FOR a club which embraces the Anzac spirit as passionately as the
the Tasmanian Devils, it was sadly missing in the way they played at
Bellerive Oval yesterday.
After travelling like winners when 35 points up against Frankston
late in the second quarter, they slumped to their fourth consecutive VFL
defeat in as many matches.
Indeed, their 17.9 (111) to 15.9 (99) capitulation has all but
buried their hopes of making the finals after last season being only one win
away from making the grand final.
Not even a pre-game rev up from Essendon and Collingwood stars of
Anzac Day blockbusters, Mark Harvey and Mick McGuane, could pull the Devils
out of their second-half slide into oblivion in which they added only 3.5 to
the Dolphins' 9.4.
It ended a forgettable week for coach Mathew Armstrong, who earlier
had been savaged by a group of supporters for what they described as his
"foul mouth".
Yet it was a quiet and chastened Armstrong who met the media after
having a long heart-to-heart with his players behind locked doors.
"They just smashed us at the stoppages and centre bounces in the
second half after we'd had control there in the first," he said.
"I thought we over-used the ball through the midfield which
resulted in too many turnovers and our skill errors really shone out.
"Our players had instructions to kick the ball long and create a
contest and we did that in the second quarter and it worked very well for
us.
"I wanted them to keep doing that, but they didn't and I'm at a
loss to explain why."
That the Devils had 300 possessions, but only went inside their
forward 50m arc 46 times best underlines how the chain broke down.
But the most glaring inadequacy the Devils have is a lack of mature
talls with the strength of muscle and mind to complement their battery of
running smalls like Ian Callinan, Ken Hall and Brett Robinson.
Frankston coach Brett Lovett also identified the Devils' lack of
big-man clout and exploited it.
"Yes, we always thought we had an advantage over Tassie there,"
Lovett said.
"So we pushed big Daniel Clarke up forward to stretch them and he
did that by kicking two goals and creating a few others for our smalls."
None benefited from this more than the artful dodger Justin Berry,
who conjured up five goals, three of them in the second half.
It earned him a Frank McDonald Medal, the other going to Hall, his
side's best player.
Sam Anstey, Bevan Molloy and skipper John Hinds also helped refuel
the Dolphins' running drive which looked to have dried up after the Devils
rammed on 8.1 to 3.1 in the second quarter.
As if the Devils don't have enough problems, tall Tim Peterson later
was taken to hospital with what could be a serious eye injury.
Final Scores
FRANKSTON 5.4 8.5 12.7 17.9 (111)
TASMANIA 4.3 12.4 14.7 15.9 (99)
Goals: Frankston: Berry 5 McCormack 2 Clark 2 Hynes Marigliani Pollard Anstey Black Malloy Robertson Winterton.
Tasmania: Callinan 3 T Geappen 2 Plapp 2 Shackleton 2 Beams Henley M Geappen Atkin Ronaldson Johnson.
Best: Frankston: Berry Hynes Malloy McCormack Roberts Odell.
Tasmania: Hall Grima Jovanovic Robinson Callinan Street.
Reports: Nil.
At Bellerive Oval.
Last Modified on 24/04/2005 09:00