It was a familar story for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels on the weekend.
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The Rebels went down by 26 points to Gippsland Power, but once again the Rebels were well in the hunt – 12 points down at the 15 minute mark of the last – but could not get over the line.
The Rebels lost every quarter, yet were down by just 13 points at three quarter-time.
Coach Marc Greig believes it will click for his group soon rather than later, but at the moment it is doing plenty right, but not enough to gain its second TAC Cup victory for 2018.
“The boys definitely have the belief,” Greig told The Courier.
“We’ve been in so many contests.
“It will come for these boys.
“The pleasing aspect was that we just kept coming at them.”
Greig said one of the main focuses for the group would be tightening up defensively. While it made strides in that area on Saturday, the all-ground pressure on the opposition was still something that needed to lift.
Greig raised the fact that many of the players in the squad are used to being the top players in their respective local clubs, and naturally defensive pressure may not have always been their priority throughout their junior careers.
That is something that is being worked on, Greig saying Gippsland Power moved the ball far too easy out of defence at times.
“The main AFI (area for improvement) that we spoke about was pressure in our forward half of the ground.
“We’re still kicking OK scores...but we’ll continue to try and defend better as a team.
“The transition run from our forwards and mids to want to get goalside of their opponents was pretty poor – we’ll have to look at that.”
Jayden Wright played his best game of the season, named the Rebels top player. Charlie Wilson continued his strong form in the forward line, kicking three and applying plenty of pressure while Matthew Lloyd impressed in his first game for the season after a long stint on the sidelines.
The Rebels have a bye next week.
It will then face Calder Cannons upon return.