Bendigo Advertiser | MARYBOROUGH coach Jamie Bond expects his Magpies to derive some confidence from their last showing against Kangaroo Flat when they meet at Bendigo Mazda Oval on Saturday.
The Magpies begin the second half of their Bendigo Football League season without a win.
Of the nine losses the Magpies have suffered, eight have been by at least 70 points.
The only game the Magpies have been genuinely competitive in for four quarters was against Kangaroo Flat in round three when they were beaten by 11 points after squandering a 23-point half-time lead.
That day the Magpies kicked their highest score of the season (86) and for the only time so far this year kept the opposition to less than 100, with the Roos kicking 97.
“It’s the closest we’ve got to a side this year and the boys played well that day, so we’ll look to take a bit from that game into this one,” Bond said on Friday.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for the Magpies’ ability to compete this season continues to be their reliance on doubling up under-18 players in the seniors.
Saturday’s senior squad of 23 has six players who have also been named in the under-18s - Rhys Egan, Jayden Templeton, Chris Freeman, Jake Postle, Thomas Roughead and Coby Perry.
“It’s hard on those six players and it’s just a pity we don’t have enough under-18s, so they only have to play one game,” Bond said.
“The kids want to play seniors, so they are saddling up for the two games and we’re finding that they’ll start quarters well, but by the end of it they are out of legs.”
Kangaroo Flat, which is sixth on the ladder at 4-5, welcomes back 2013 best and fairest runner-up Mitch Hough, who returned to the club this week and has been named in the centre.
