Tara Murray
Melton found the perfect way to respond from its first loss of the season, with a big win against Darley on Saturday in the Ballarat Football League.
Having started the season well, the Bloods are starting to get some big tests come their way.
They didn’t come much bigger than defending champions, Darley on Saturday
Both teams entered the game on the back of a loss.
The Bloods flew out of the blocks and led by six goals at quarter time and were able to still hold a four goal lead at half time.
The second half was all the Bloods on the scoreboard, kicking the only seven goals of the half to win, 16.8 (104)-5.6 (36).
Bloods coach Troy Scoble said the group had responded perfectly from the week before.
“We got into the mindset that you learn from losses and we were able to do that during the week,” he said.
“Win or loss this week the way we trained after the loss was really strong and we would learn a lot from this week.
“The competition is so even and both sides are competitive and it’s good to get the result.”
Scoble said they changed a few things during the week which they were able to implement.
He said they’ve struggled against Darley in the last couple of years, so they wanted to change it up.
While the scoreboard showed a big win to the Bloods, Scoble said the game didn’t feel like that.
“The effort and pressure around the ball was really good and we played well in other areas,” he said.
“It was similar to some of our other games against time spots, it was pretty even but we were able to have a bit more of an impact in front of goal.”
Braedan Kight kicked seven goals for the Bloods and said his kicking was one of the big differences between the sides.
He said it was a really strong team performance which was pleasing.
For the Devils, Adam Azzopardi was named their best.
The win keeps the Bloods in second spot only behind the undefeated Sunbury Lions.
Scoble said they were pretty happy with the start to the season.
“It’s a new game style in place,” he said. “We’ve won four out five games against some strong side and we’re happy with where we did.
“There is a long way to go and a lot of improvement in what we want to try to put in place.
“We’re in the right direction.”
The Bloods this week face Lake Wendouree.
In other results, Melton South lost to Sebastopol.
The Burras jumped out of the blocks and led by 46 points at quarter time.
It took until the second half for the Panthers to score a goal in the 15.17 (107)-4.10 (34) loss.
Jarrod Bibby was named the Panthers best.
