Is the honeymoon period over for sixth placed Bannockburn?

08 May Is the honeymoon period over for sixth placed Bannockburn?

“They were simply better than us.”

These were the words from former Geelong great Peter Riccardi roughly half an hour after his Bannockburn side suffered a shock 47-point defeat to Thomson.

It was the first time both he and co-coach Darren Milburn had suffered back to back losses since taking the reins at the start of the 2016 GDFL season.

And for the first time in their 46-game stint (36-10 record) the duo now find themselves out of the top five.

“We spoke about that before the game, we’ve knocked them (Thomson) out two years in a row and they had taken a big scalp vs. Bell Post Hill so they were going to hunt us,” Riccardi admitted.

“But I didn’t get this ‘flat’ feeling against Winchelsea (ANZAC Day) to be honest compared to now.”

“Against Thomson I just got that feeling where the whole day was just flat.”

He continued, “In our first year we made the grand final and it was like the honeymoon period, there’s a new coach at the time who we all want to impress and then we made the grand final.”

“But now it’s the third year and we have just lost that spark so whether we go back to the chalkboard and go from there, well, the players will just have to be ready on Tuesday night.”

Whitley medal contender Matt Tyquin filled the void of EDFL recruit Jake Myles (calf) when finding 12 of his eventual 27 disposals in the first term.

This was a positive sign after the 2016 club best and fairest was shut down by young Winchelsea utility Caleb Brown 10 days earlier.

However even the stellar efforts of Tyquin, Brett Harding and Michael Stevenson would not be enough as the visitors faced defeated in every quarter for the first time…. in a long time.

“At the moment there are too many blokes picking and choosing when to go and when not to go,” he added.

“We spoke about it at length, I’m not sure if our boys know their roles and we keep identifying what needs to be changed but now it looks we’ll have to start changing as a club.”

He continued, “Thomson to their credit came out to play and they were way better than us.”

“This was our worst loss that we’ve had in three years at the club so after giving the players a bit of leeway it’s time to start telling some home truths.”

Excuses can be made from the outsiders.

In recent years spots left by Bannockburn clubmen Tom Mullane Grant, Zachary Hickleton and Ryan Thewlis have been filled by Milburn (Geelong, AFL), Stevenson (Geelong Amateur), former forward Jason Tom (Leopold), Brent Jacques (North Shore), Nathan Kelly (Horsham Demons), Tom Parsons (Anakie), Ben Stretton (Werribee, AFL) and Hayden Spiller (Geelong West).

But the loss of former co-captain Jack Brauman, who only turns 23 today, has become more and more evident particularly after the Tigers’ long gap on the track between their losses.

“He’s (Brauman) a massive loss for us but when you lose one then other soldiers have to step up,” he added.

“We tried something different at training last week; we did the old ‘Blighty’ get the ball and then kick it away on the field the Monday before hand.”

“It was crash and bash footy, we thought Winchelsea were tougher than us so we went into crash and bash training.”

“It might have taken a bit out of them, I’m not too sure.”

So what happens to Bannockburn now?

Though the Tigers should do enough to hold off a young North Geelong midfield this week Riccardi and Milburn’s men will then play Werribee (away), Belmont Lions and Bell Post Hill (away).

By Alex Tigani
GDFL Media (08/05/2018)