KANGAROO Flat coach Jason Stevens admits he’s baffled by his side’s poor second quarters that have regularly placed the Roos under scoreboard pressure at half-time this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Roos have trailed at half-time in all seven of their games by an average of 27 points as they have regularly let the opposition get away in the second quarter.
While the Roos have made competitive starts to all their games, they have tended to battle in second quarters, losing them all by 29, 28, 16, 43, 37, 11 and two points.
“It’s a trend, but we haven’t been able to identify anything internally as to why that may be happening,” Stevens said on Friday.
“Our third and fourth quarters are much better, so it’s certainly not a fitness thing... there’s something mentally as to why we drop off in the second quarter.
“We don’t want to continually be behind at half-time, so those poor second quarters is something we need to continue to work on and address.”
The Roos face one of their key matches of the Bendigo Football League season on Saturday when they make the trip to take on Kyneton at the Showgrounds.
The Roos and Tigers - who are both 3-4 - are among the group of four sides that are battling for fifth spot, which is currently held by Kyneton.
“They’ve got fifth spot and a percentage advantage over us at the moment, so it’s a huge game and we certainly know how tough it is to go down there and win,” Stevens said.
Among the inclusions for the Roos - who pushed undefeated Strathfieldsaye all the way last round - is Tim Brooks, who will provide more marking power inside 50 alongside Cameron Rinaldi and Braydan Knox, with Stevens confident he’ll have the forward line to cause the Tigers plenty of headaches.
“We need to play to our strengths, win the midfield battle and get it down to our forward line... with Cameron Rinaldi, Ryan McNish, Tim Brooks and Braydan Knox and a couple of smalls in Sam Kennedy, Jayke Barrack and Simon Davies, we’re really happy with what we’ve got down there this weekend.
“Kyneton and Kangaroo Flat have tended to have high-scoring contests, so we expect this may be another.”
Saturday’s game starts at 2.20pm.
• Kangaroo Flat score differential per quarter:
1st: -3.6 points.
2nd: -23.7 points.
3rd: -3.0 points.
4th: -2.7 points.