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ANAKIE has claimed its first win of 2014, overcoming a wasteful Belmont side by 30 points at Jetts Oval.
After a tough opening three rounds of the year, the Roos played with confidence and composure to earn the four points.
Coach Phil Gavin was pleased with his young side’s effort, crediting the victory to a much improved performance across the board from his charges.
“Obviously the start to the season hasn’t been ideal, to cop a couple of heavy losses early was really disheartening and I think the boys took a little to get over that,” Gavin said.
“We’d been working up to a performance like that. The first two weeks were very disappointing and we had to do a bit of soul-searching. I think North Geelong and Werribee probably knocked us around a bit confidence-wise.
“It is still a fairly young group, and I don’t want to use that as an excuse all the time but we know we have to have 22 contributors each week to get the job done and I think today that’s what we had.”
Equally pleasing was the manner in which Anakie used the ball and executed its aggressive game plan.
In wet conditions the Roos delivered the ball through the middle by hand and foot with precision and in turn gave their forwards silver service, a game style Gavin has been looking to implement over the past 18 months.
“It was very much the game style we tried to play last year as well,” he said. “I was pleased with the brand of footy we played, which was probably the most important thing.”
Having lost nine of their past 11, the weekend’s gritty win will give the young group great belief going forward.
Gavin was hopeful his side had taken a step forward in its development and expects a far more competitive Roos outfit.
“Words are words, you can look at each other and talk but it’s really about trying to put it out there and get some belief and hopefully a win like this is a step forward for us.
“We’ll just try and be competitive, I know it’s a cliche ... 1-3 is not ideal, but we think we’re back to a situation where we’re going to be competitive.”
Tom Parsons was the Roos’ best; Nick Costello and Nathan Felsner were part of a quality defensive unit while Jamie Phillis was enormous with four goals and stood up when his side needed him most.
Both sides jumped out of the blocks well but it was the visitors who adapted far better to the greasy conditions, taking full advantage of their opportunities. Belmont was quite the opposite, kicking a woeful 2.9 for the quarter, to trail by seven points at the first change.
Anakie continued to lead from the front, kicking the first five of six goals in the second term. Two late goals to Lions closed the margin to 19 points at half time and brought them back into the contest.
Again it was early goals for the Roos, extending their lead to five goals midway through the third quarter before the home side rallied. Late Belmont goals made it a 10-point ball-game and the match was well and truly in the balance.
Anakie finished in great fashion, piling on four unanswered goals to seal its first victory of the year.
