THE CARLTON Reserves were victorious in their Round 5 clash against Geelong.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Tom McLachlan)
Coming into the Sunday game hungry for their first win of the season, the Blues stormed home at IKON Park, recording a victory with a goal in the final stages to overcome the Cats by four points.
Here's what AFL development coach Torin Baker had to say.
On his relief after the close win:
"We’ve had some close games in the previous weeks and probably last week, we all felt that we didn’t execute that last quarter - to go down by a couple points against North was tough. We felt the first half of the last quarter against Geelong didn’t go our way as well, and there were some moments that we didn’t execute.
“We certainly know that last seven or eight minutes of the game, there were some key things that we know we go to as a club and to get those right was important and a great learning for our players.”
On individual standouts:
“Well I think it was a really overall positive for the footy club. Obviously Sam Docherty came back and had a great impact, but there will be a lot of players pressing for AFL selection next week.
“It’s great to have Marc Pittonet get two games in a row, Lachie Cowan came back and got through a full game, Jordan Boyd continues to press. There are a number of players that are going to be there ready to go for AFL selection
“We had some really good contributors across the ground. Heath Ramshaw was strong from the VFL group, Liam McMahon continued to hit the scoreboard, and it was Ben Camporeale's best game for the footy club.
“Particularly this early in the season, we're constantly finding out more about our individual players and the group.”
On positives during the game:
“I think we controlled the ball on the day. We’ve ended having plus 51 uncontested marks, so our ability to be able to take the game forward and control possession I thought was important.
“Often we ended up getting ahead on the scoreboard, but then we probably conceded a couple of soft goals through defensive-50 stoppages. Inside 50s we probably conceded a couple of easy marks when they were on the boundary, which again we have to keep learning from.
“But in terms of the way the game was played, we were really happy with the method and how our players executed.”
On what changed from last week to overcome challenges when the game got close:
“I think there’s the moments that are really important, but it’s also just execution of role.
“At times it’s just getting a repeat stoppage or finding another mark, or when you’re in front keeping the ball close to the boundary line off a long kick.
“There just the simple moments that we continually coach. We were really happy towards the end of the game that the boys executed those moments really well.”
On the messaging to the players following previous tough losses:
“I think the important thing that we do now is regardless of whether we’ve won the game or lost the game, we're really strong as a club about reviewing it the same way.
“There will be great learnings from this game. We clearly got some great learnings from last game, but we want to keep a really balanced viewpoint to how we see our games. The results have been very close the last two weeks, but it doesn’t change the way that we review our game.”
On the focus going forward:
“We don’t look too far ahead: for the VFL group, we’ve got Coburg next Sunday.
“We will review the game, recover and make sure that whether we review our close-game scenarios or we're looking at how we execute our method going into the game, that it’s the same thing we’re going to do every week.
“Did we execute the plan? How were we in the important moments? And keep building that into the game going forward.”
