FINALLY, North Ballarat Roosters have reward for their effort.
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The Selkirk Roosters snapped a four-game losing streak with a 20-point win against top-eight team Casey Scorpions at Eureka Stadium on Saturday.
They enter a mid-season bye round with a victory to end what has been a tumultuous phase for the team in the Victorian Football League.
A fortnight ago, Roosters’ leaders sat their coach Gerard FitzGerald down and formed strategies to be more competitive, with clear targets to define this. This was after losing four of their previous five games by 80 points or more.
The Roosters staged a massive comeback to get almost within a kick of Sandringham after that talk. Last week they controlled Geelong until a late slip at Simonds Stadium. This week, the Roosters refused to yield.
“We drew the line after that poor performance because it was not us, it was not how we want to play,” FitzGerald said. “For those next three games we wanted the playing group to embrace the plan.”
Individual tackles, one per centers and spoils have been highlighted each quarter since.
Importantly against the Scorpions, the Roosters markedly increased their own efficiency with the ball 17 per cent after half-time from talking tactics at the break. They denied the high-marking Scorpions a chance to dictate term, cutting back their average possessions and lowering their marking tally.
The Roosters ruck duties were carried out by debutant Jackson Bowen and Rebels’ graduate Rowan Marshall. The pair were up against Melbourne AFL-listed veteran Mark Jamar and while beaten, they served him up a challenge.
North Melbourne-listed midfielder Ryan Bastinac was pure class. Bastinac, under a heavy tag chalked up 29 disposals, five marks, five clearances, and six tackles in what was his first VFL game in four years. FitzGerald said the way Bastinac dealt with the pressure and simply went about his game was a great example for his team. Fellow midfielder Nick Rippon was back to his prolific ball-winning best with 34 possessions and Roosters co-captain Myles Sewell had 25 touches. Andrew Hooper was lively up forward with three goals and six tackles.
Inaccuracy troubled the Scorpions, who went inside their forward-50 once more than the Roosters for six more scoring shots. The Roosters booted three goals to open the second quarter and kept a clear, but not large, buffer to the final siren.
FitzGerald quickly gathered players on the ground to detail what they achieved leading into the bye.