NORTH Ballarat Rebels produced a scintillating 10-goal third quarter to blow Bendigo Pioneers away with half an hour of the Rebels’ best football.
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The Rebels replicated its third term against the Pioneers in round five where it kicked 10.5 - as it did on Sunday to win 20.14 (134) to 11.10 (76).
North Ballarat, who now close to within two points of fourth-placed Sandringham, trailed by seven points at half-time before addressing some key areas as it turned to its leaders. In the absence of almost half its usual line-up with St Patrick’s College commitments, coach Gerard Fitzgerald was very pleased with the result.
“(The third term) was excellent, given we were behind,” FitzGerald said.
“We were under pressure and we had a lot of new boys in our side but to play offensively and defensively as well as that was a really good sign.
“At half-time the message was about what to do defensively and offensively, we had to get a few things right in terms of our structure … I saw a really good lift from our leaders after half-time.”
With 10 changes to the side, FitzGerald and the North Ballarat coaching staff backed in its systems that had been educated all year. With such a turnover of players in seven days, coupled with an opposition desperate to keep its finals hopes alive on its home ground. It had all the ingredients of a sound test of the Rebels teachings – and it rose to the occasion.
“The whole day was built around the theme of we’ll have trust in how we coach and develop our players. We’ll bring in new players and we’ll trust them to play the position.”