Tara Murray
Western Jets lost their second last game of the Coates Talent League boys season to a strong Geelong Falcons side on Sunday.
The Jets seemed to be up for the fight early but the Falcons proved to be too good. Enjoying a 28 point lead at half time which grew to a 53 point margin by the final siren, with the Falcons winning, 17.14 (116)-9.9 (63).
Jets’ talent lead Luke Williams said the team was out classed from early on in the game.
“We did improve some parts of our game from other weeks where we were able to get a lot more ball forward, inside 50, which was a real positive and gave some of our exciting forwards a bit more of a look at it,” he said.
“From that point of view it was pretty good but the final scoreboard was probably a fair indication of the game.
“With the exception of individual efforts, we probably didn’t quite gel as a team as well as we have been in our better performances this year.”
Some of the individual efforts mentioned by Williams included Logan Morris who kicked three goals, and is poised to go early on AFL draft night, as well as midfielder Jake Smith who once again led the disposal count for the Jets, with 27 touches.
“Logan’s real assets this year is he’s been able to hit the scoreboard,” he said. “He worked up the ground a lot more yesterday which has been a real goal for him throughout the year.
“He played across half forward and up on the wing, presented as a bit of a target.
“So to still get three goals is a great reward considering he covered a fair bit of ground.
“Smith was another really good performance… one of our key clearance players and he backed up from his VFL [Victorian Football League] debut last week with Williamstown and performed really strongly.
“We are seeing some really good development in some of our bottom aged players in particular Massimo Raso who is coming off an injury riddled season… he’s put some really good games together and shown some really dynamic movement as a midfielder now.”
The Jets have played almost 50 players throughout the course of the season, and with only one home and away season game left, Williams said they could potentially look to play some under-16s.
With their final game coming up in two weeks time against Greater Western Victoria Rebels, Williams said it will be a game to find where their best balance is.
“That will be a game that we’ll look to consolidate, give opportunities to young players that deserve it, but hoping to settle the team and consolidate [heading into] September,” he said.
