MARYBOROUGH coach Shane Skontra says the club is continuing to take steps forward in building its off-field culture, but it’s up to the playing group to start replicating it on the field.
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After enduring consecutive winless seasons in 2015 and 2016, the struggling Magpies are again the whipping boys of the BFNL.
They have started the season 0-5, with the past three of those losses all triple-figure margins – 195 points against Strathfieldsaye, 133 against Kangaroo Flat and 159 against South Bendigo.
“The shining light has been what we’ve been able to do off the field and we feel we’re advancing, but as a playing group it’s up to us to be able to justify some of those positive changes out on the ground to give some reward to our supporters,” Skontra said on Friday.
While the Magpies have been regularly beat up on during a string of what’s now 43 losses in a row, the most ruthless hidings have come from Golden Square.
The Bulldogs have won their past three games against the Magpies by margins of 200, 207 and 238 points, with the two sides to meet again on Saturday at Princes Park.
“I don’t think there will be too may thoughts about the past from our players. All we’ve focused on this year is drilling into our players the way we want to play, rather than focusing too much on the opposition,” Skontra said.