Border Mail |
WANGARATTA threw away any chance it had of playing finals this year when it coughed up a 46-point lead against North Albury on Saturday.
The Magpies, who took that buffer into the main break, folded like a deck of cards in the second half as the Hoppers piled on 13 of the game’s next 15 goals to run out eight-point winners.
It was stunning to watch.
But sadly, not all that surprising.
Wangaratta has made a habit of throwing away winning positions in recent seasons, with games against the Hoppers and Albury over the past 18 months both springing to mind.
You can add Saturday’s loss to the pile.
There were simply no excuses.
“We need to show some urgency earlier,” coach Mark Knobel said after the shattering defeat.
“We’ve got to learn to stop it after two or three goals, not five or six.
“We became a little bit reactive and didn’t apply the pressure we needed to.
“We had too many guys going to the footy, and running forward.”
He was spot on.
There is little doubt the Pies have some of the best attacking players in the competition but defence was again found wanting when it counted.
For the Hoppers, what shaped as a nightmare loss turned into a stirring confidence-boosting victory.
The second-half was full of positive signs.
Jason Gram played the best, if at least most important, 10 minutes he’s played since pulling on a Hoppers’ jumper.
He had 10 kicks in the first 10 minutes of the final quarter, sending four of those inside 50 and rebounding twice out of the back half.
He simply ran riot when the game was on the line.
In the space of 10 minutes, the former St Kilda ace helped turn what looked a possible comeback into a 13-point lead when Kane Godde ran into an open goal following a booming forward entry from Gram.
But a positional change at half-time had even more influence on the result.
Dan Leslie went forward, with Kade Brown sent to mind Magpies’ forward James Wong.
At the time, Hoppers’ coach Jason Akermanis was faced with the conundrum of robbing Peter, to pay Paul.
But it changed the game.
“You always know what you’re going to get with Les,” Akermanis said.
“He is so consistent and a super leader.
“He’s a big, strong man who leads from the front.
“Our forwards weren’t working hard enough in the first half.
“But I wouldn’t say it was robbing Peter to pay Paul because both Peter and Paul are very good.”
Adam Prior continued his dominant form with an eight-goal, best on ground, performance.
He marked everything that came his way and could have finished with 10 majors, had his radar been better.
Andrew Thompson came in as a late replacement for ruckman Ben Ryan and did a terrific job, while Josh Senior and Alex Freeman played their roles in defence.
Jarrah Maksymow and Jethro Calma-Holt added plenty of spark to an already dangerous Hoppers’ forward line.
Matt Grossman tore North Albury to shreds with his pace in the first half but was lost for most of the second-half with concussion.
It was a big blow, however, not the telling factor on deciding the outcome of the game.
Right now, Wangaratta simply can’t handle the pressure when the blowtorch is applied.
