Match result: North Ballarat 14.9.93 defeated by Geelong 15.12.102
Venue: Simonds Stadium
Conditions: Perfect afternoon for football
In action:
- Shaun Atley (18 disposals, 8 clearances, 7 tackles)
- Aaron Black (14 disposals, 9 marks, 2.5)
- Taylor Garner (15 disposals, 7 tackles, 1 goal)
- Brad McKenzie (18 disposals, 7 tackles, 6 clearances, 1 goal)
- Aaron Mullett (28 disposals, 9 marks, 1 goal)
- Braydon Preuss (9 disposals, 29 hit-outs, 7 one percenters)
- Joel Tippett (15 disposals, 4 one percenters)
- Max Warren (15 disposals, 4 one percenters)
NMFC.com.au's best:
Aaron Mullett
What the coach said - Gerard Fitzgerald
Half-time
North Ballarat 7.6.48 leads Geelong 6.6.42
“We need to increase our covering off. We need to increase our competitiveness at the fall of the ball and make the opposition pay as a result of not being able to stop the deep entry.”
Story of the game
Looking to snap a recent run of losses, North Ballarat travelled down the highway to face a Geelong side with the same intent.
It turned out to be a see-sawing encounter, with both sides enjoying their fair share of momentum and runs of consecutive goals.
When Taylor Garner broke from a stoppage and nailed a long goal in the last term, it appeared the Roosters were well on their way to victory. However there was one more twist in the tale, as the home side finished the stronger, hitting the lead in time-on and holding on for a nine-point victory.
Points of interest
1. Aaron Black played arguably his best game of the season, terrorising the Geelong defence with seven marks inside 50. If it wasn’t for inaccuracy he could have easily ended with a big bag of goals.
“That was the best game I’ve seen him play in a while,” Senior Development Coach Gavin Brown said.
“His work rate was through the roof, he took contested marks, he got them on the lead, he did a bit of everything.
“The key for him is to get on the move because he’s so athletic, quick and he has attributes in all areas of the game.”
2. Aaron Mullett collected a team-high 28 disposals for the Roosters, working as their main link man between defence and midfield.
“He can find a lot of the ball, and he defended relatively well,” Brown said.
“I think he still needs games for a bit of continuity, but it was pleasing to see him get involved in the game.”
3. Taylor Garner played his first full game of the year. After playing one half against Port Melbourne and three quarters against Sandringham, the 21-year-old was able to finish strongly against Geelong.
“He got through the game quite well. He moved into the middle during the last quarter and finished strongly," Brown said.
“His tackling is a real feature and he does it with intent. Even though we have guys like Swallow (Andrew) and (Ben) Cunnington he’s close to our best tackler at the footy club.
“His physicality is enormous. He loves it and it’ll serve him well.”
4. Joel Tippett was a rock down back for the Roosters, repeatedly throwing his body into contests to repel Geelong’s forward entries.
“He did the job on everyone he played on while he was down deep,” Brown said.
“He used the ball really well and was solid in the contest, so it was a good game from Tippo.”
5. In his second game for the Roosters, Shaun Atley was a little quieter than his first, but still applied plenty of pressure around the ball, registering eight clearances and seven tackles.
“His stoppage work in close was really pleasing and he’ll probably do a little more work inside,” Brown said.
“He was able to take the game on and he looked sharp while he was doing that.”
Most likely call up: Aaron Mullett
Next week: Saturday June 20 v Casey, Eureka Stadium at 1:00pm
