NORTH Ballarat City coach Rob Waters says he doesn’t believe his team was complacent in its defeat at the hands of Ballarat last weekend.
But that hasn’t stopped him giving the black-and-whites a bit of a working over at training this week ahead of tomorrow’s match against East Point at Eureka Stadium.
Waters says his team “went back to basics” during training as Peach’s North City looks to rebound from its first loss of the season.
“We did a fair bit of intense running on Tuesday,” Waters admits.
“We didn’t play great against Ballarat.
“We need to learn from last week’s game and we worked on a few things during the week such as disposal and kicking efficiency.
“We want to get back to basics, and not be flashy. I don’t know (if the players were getting ahead of themselves).
“I certainly hope not.”
Simon McCartin was a casualty of Tuesday training, straining a hamstring.
He joins Ben Edwards, who also has a hamstring injury, on the sidelines.
Tyler George is back from a groin injury, while Shaun Lyle is also back after being a late withdrawal last weekend with a virus.
Ayden George will miss another week.
East Point playing coach Dan Jordan kicked just one goal in the Red Lion Kangaroos’ victory over Melton last Saturday.
Waters says that makes matters more complicated for the North City brains trust.
“I reckon it makes the planning harder,” he says. “DJ is the premier forward in the competition and we’ve done a bit of work on that.
“He was kept to one goal last week by McIntyre last week and they had a good spread of goals, so it means they will be less predictable.”
PREDICTION: North Ballarat City by 10 points