PERHAPS the Roosters were a little caught up in the emotion of the occasion: their highly-respected coach’s last game as their leader, their last hit-out of the season, a rival without finals prospects.
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There was a strong crowd at Eureka Stadium on Saturday and neither the Roosters nor Coburg were putting on much of a good show early.
Once North Ballarat Roosters settled, they could pull away from Coburg to a 42-point win. The Roosters went back to their processes and the result was telling both statistically and in how they were playing.
Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald, in his sign-off game, said players just needed a reminder on methods and mind-set.
“They were over-aroused for the match and that can cause just as big a damage as a team that is flat,” FitzGerald said. “They wanted to play well but were all over the place. I told them at half-time, they don’t look well-organised, they don’t look well-coached and lacked method. We needed to come back to what we needed to do.”
That, was a measured approach.
The Roosters held a four-point lead at half-time. They had chalked up 40 more possessions than Coburg but gone inside their forward-50 metres only twice more. Kicking efficiency was poor.
At half-time the Roosters devised a plan to score with the breeze and piled on six goals to Coburg’s one major in the third. The Roosters tweaked their strategy for the final term and while Coburg booted the first, quick goal to re-start play, a Rooster reply had them look broken.
Slippery conditions suited Roosters co-captain Myles Sewell, who set the tone in tenacity with nine tackles and 27 touches. Nick Rippon topped Rooster disposals with 28 touches but stood out with his four goals. Full back Joel Tippett nullified key forward Lech Fetherstone and notched up 23 disposals. Luke Kiel also played a key lock-down role, keeping Lachlan Johns to one goal.
Victory marks the Roosters’ fifth-straight win to close the season. It polishes off a remarkable turnaround for the Roosters who, to round seven, had lost four matches by 80 points or more and were averaging 111 points conceded. Their average winning margin in the final five rounds was 62 points and since round seven, the average points kicked against the Roosters was 67.
But it was the Roosters’ changed attitude, the belief, that was most telling.
“Even though Coburg kicked the first goal in the first quarter, earlier in the year that would have led to a series of goals,” FitzGerald said. “...We’ve learned to arm-wrestle better.”
The match ended a 10-year partial alignment with AFL club North Melbourne that has yielded three VFL flags (2008-10) and been a development ground for the likes of Roos skipper Andrew Swallow.