MITIAMO coach Justin Maddern says the Superoos must find the way to flick the switch from the outset against Bridgewater in this Saturday’s Loddon Valley Football-Netball League grand final rematch.
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Both the Superoos and Mean Machine go into the round five clash at Bridgewater as the only undefeated teams in the competition.
However, first-year coach Maddern says while pleased to be 3-0, the Superoos have only played one good quarter of footy in each of their wins.
And in all three games, it has been the third quarter, during which the Superoos have outscored their opponents a combined 130-18.
“We know Bridgewater is the benchmark of the competition and I just want to see us start well on Saturday and be able to play four quarters of good football and the end result will take care of itself,” Maddern said on Wednesday.
The Superoos have outscored their opponents by just 15 points in first halves this season, while their second half points differential is +135.
“We can’t put our finger on why we haven’t been starting games as well as we’d like… I’m hoping that coming up against the No.1 side in the competition this week, the guys will have the right mindset from the start,” said Maddern, who leads the league goalkicking with 21.
“We’ve been playing really well in third quarters with high energy and good ball movement and look a really good side, but in first halves we’ve been looking fairly ordinary, so we need to adjust it and get our first halves right.
“We know if we play the way we have in first halves the past three games then we could be looking at an ugly scoreboard this week.”
As much as this Saturday is a chance for the Superoos to test themselves against the benchmark, no doubt the league would also be hoping for a competitive contest given Bridgewater – which is chasing a record seventh-flag in a row – is already boasting an average winning margin of 101 points this season.
When they last met, Bridgewater beat Mitiamo by 56 points in the 2015 grand final.
“Hopefully, we can use this game as the kickstarter to our season to be able to play more consistent footy,” Maddern said.