DARLEY coach Rod McPherson had no explanation for his side’s poor performance against North Ballarat in the Ballarat Football League.
Coming off an impressive win the week before, Darley struggled all day Saturday in losing 11.12 (78) to 5.9 (39).
McPherson said it was a disappointing result.
“There was no reason for it. We had poor ball use and 15 turnovers in the first quarter.
“It wasn’t like the conditions caused us to play bad football.
“If it had been the week before, you could have blamed it on the long break [three weeks of no play] for causing rust, but not this week.”
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McPherson said North Ballarat played well.
“They had a couple of dominant ruckmen so they got first use out of the midfield and they had a good spread of running.
“They would get the ball out of the middle and run 100 metres, which we couldn’t do.”
He said Darley would be working hard on skills during the week. “We had double-figure turnovers for the first three quarters … we couldn’t even have three possessions in a row without a skill error.
“We killed our forwards with bad delivery.
“We need to regroup to work on skill levels and ball movement.
“We need to keep the ball moving from stoppages and getting it out to give our forwards opportunities.”
McPherson said injuries had added to Darley’s disappointing day.
“Nathan Jackel had a clash with another player and both ended up in hospital. Jake Edwards also pulled up sore.”
He said Jake and Jarrod Edwards were the best for the side, while Scott McAllester had tried hard in the ruck.
This week Darley faces Sebastopol. “They had a good win on the weekend, which is good for them as they’ve had a tough year.
“We need to beat these teams which are around us on the ladder.”
