WESTERN Jets have been a rough diamond in the TAC Cup so far this season.
The highly fancied Jets are searching for answers following consecutive losses to last year’s grand finalists in the opening two rounds.
The hardest part for coach Steven Kretiuk is that his side has willingly thrown their bodies into the line of fire to win the hard ball, but lacked the necessary get up and go on the spread and the skills required to hurt their opponents going forward.
“Our pressure around the footy and in the contest has been as good as anyone in the competition,” he said.
“It’s just been a couple of structure things, decision making and execution that’s really let us down.
“We’re doing the hard work inside to get the contested possessions but we’re not spreading and working into the places as well as we should.
“They showed over pre-season they can execute. Maybe it’s a bit of laziness.”
The Jets have been more than competitive in both games.
Defending champions Sandringham Dragons had to wait until the dying stages to upend the Jets in round one, while statistics against runners up Oakleigh Chargers did not point to a 51-point loss for the Jets at Visy Park on Sunday.
The Jets lowered their colours in a hellish second term where they conceded six goals to one and effectively the game.
“When you put the two games into perspective, we’ve played last year’s two grand finalists and had one bad quarter in eight quarters, so I certainly think there’s a lot of positives to be taken out,” Kretiuk said.
“We had more inside 50s, more clearances, more contested possessions, but we just couldn’t capitalise on the hard work we’d done and kept turning the footy over.
“Our kicking on the weekend was 55 per cent, which is pretty poor, and some guys were at 30per cent kicking efficiency.
Sam Critchley was the Jets’ best.
Josh Bench, from Albion, played with a “fair bit of guts” on the ball coming back from a limited pre-season due to injury.
Kretiuk says the Jets are not in panic stations mode just yet – but that could swing into action if they cannot beat an equally desperate Eastern Ranges at Highgate Recreation Reserve on Saturday morning.
“They’re in a similar position to us,” he said. “We’re certainly going to have to be on the ball to beat them.”
SCORES:
Round 2: Western Jets 6.9 (45) lt Oakleigh Chargers 14.8 (96). Western Jets – Goals: D Castellano 2, T Jehle 2, A Piva , M Orr. Best: S Critchley, J McKenzie, D Iaccarino, A Brown, C Nastasi, H Walshe.
