Hoppers Crossing coach Steven Kretiuk was in two minds assessing his side’s gallant 11-point loss to Spotswood in the Western Region Football League division 1 away game on Saturday.
For every positive that came out of the game, there was a negative tacked on the back of it.
It was a frustrating day for Kretiuk but also a day when progress was made, providing encouragement for the games ahead.
The Warriors got to within two kicks of last year’s runners-up at a ground where they lost by 94 points last season. They were down on players early on in the game after David Barbieri (broken nose) and Matthew Young (concussion) sustained injuries.
Kretiuk said he was proud of players who had to work even harder to fight an internal battle.
“We had a few passengers today,” Kretiuk told Star Weekly.
“There were four or five guys who could probably put their hand up and say, ‘We didn’t have much impact’.
“To have two players go down early … we needed everyone else to find an extra 10 to 15 per cent to make up for their loss.
“But when you’ve got some players who don’t have an impact on the game whatsoever, offensively and defensively, those other guys have to find another 15 to 20 per cent to make up for that non-impact in the game.”
For the majority of Warriors who battled hard, Kretiuk said he was “proud” of their efforts. The game was there to be won late but there was just not enough petrol left in the tank, leaving the Warriors to lick their wounds after a first loss this season.
“The game was played at a frantic pace, up and down the ground, and you could tell in the last quarter we just couldn’t find that extra leg to be able to kick a winning score,” Kretiuk said.
“There were guys pretty much running up and down on the spot in that last quarter.”
Kretiuk put the defeat down to his side’s poor disposal entering the attacking 50.
In the second term, the Warriors went into the forward 50 arc 20 times without taking a single mark. “We shot ourselves in the foot,” Kretiuk said.
While Mathew Ryan, David Brierty, Matthew Smith and Brent Sheean were outstanding in the midfield and Harley Weston-Armstrong a pillar in defence, the Warriors had no answer for Spotswood star Murray Boyd.
“We didn’t have a key forward to stand up to take some telling marks,” Kretiuk said.
“They had Boyd, who was pretty much the difference.” Meanwhile, Werribee Districts made light work of strugglers Albion, winning by 106 points on the road at JR Parsons Reserve.
In division 2, Wyndhamvale suffered its first defeat of the season, going down to North Footscray by 24 points.
In what is a tightknit division, Manor Lakes joined three other clubs at the top of the table with a 3-1 record.
But to do this they had to come back from a 29-point quarter-time deficit to beat local rivals Glenorden in a thriller by four points.
In division 3, boom recruit Dean Cachia fired with six goals as the Wyndham Suns thrashed North Sunshine by 61 points. But there were losses for Tarneit and Sanctuary Lakes.
In the VAFA, Point Cook is one of two remaining undefeated sides in division 4 after toppling North Brunswick by 38 points.
Mason Kip is leading the Bulldogs’ blitz with three consecutive best-on-ground displays.
Westbourne Grammarians slaughtered South Mornington by 167 points with Dale Collins jagging seven goals and Jesse Humphreys booting six.
In the GDFL, Werribee Centrals went down to Anakie by 21 points, leaving them with just one win in four games.
