Some snippets about Coburg in the Bendigo AdvertiserCoach happy,despite belting
Bendigo Advertiser
March 3, 2008
THE Metricon Bendigo Bombers copped a 118-point belting from the Coburg Tigers at the Queen Elizabeth Oval in their first practice match of the year on Saturday.
However, despite the 25.17 (167) to 7.7 (49) scoreline, Bombers’ coach Adrian Hickmott wasn’t overly concerned by the result.
It was a young Bendigo side that took to the field, including a number of players who had earlier played in the reserves, with first-year Essendon draftee Tom Bellchambers the only AFL-listed player lining up for the Bombers.
While the Bombers went with an inexperienced side with just seven players who had previously played at senior VFL level, Coburg had a star-studded line-up.
Among the Coburg side were Richmond-listed players Mark Coughlan, Jarred Oakley-Nicholls, Mitch Morton, Jack Riewoldt, Dean Polo, Chris Hyde, Tristan Cartledge, Luke McGuane and former Bendigo Pioneer Daniel Connors.
The Bombers made a solid start to the game trailing by just 19 points at the first change, before Coburg took control over the final three quarters.
‘‘Coburg had a really good side out there and brought quite a few Richmond players,’’ Hickmott said after what was his first game in charge of the Bombers.
‘‘When we have guys 18 and 19 years-of-age, you don’t expect their bodies to be as strong as blokes who are full-time footballers, and we saw that today.
‘‘I thought we were reasonably competitive in the first quarter.
‘‘We did all the right things . . . we used the ball the way we wanted to and our set ups were reasonably good.
‘‘But we lost our way a bit in the second quarter, and it nearly felt like we had got ahead of ourselves.’’ The Tigers led 13.8 (86) to 4.4 (28) at half-time, before adding another 12.9 to 3.3 in the second half.
‘‘Throughout the game I put some blokes in our backhalf, more so as a teaching tool to see how the guys could carry and run the ball out and hit targets,’’ Hickmott said.
‘‘They struggled at that a little, but I suppose confidence by then was down and the skills and pressure from Coburg was fairly good.
‘‘But overall, it was a great start in terms of understanding for myself as a coach the players who I have got to work with.
‘‘It was the first real good hit-out I have seen of all the list, so from that point of view it was good for me as a coach.’’ Among those to stand out for the Bombers were Jon Coghlan, James Flaherty, Josh Bowe, James Bristow, Rex Taylor and Bellchambers.
http://bendigo.yourguide.com.au/news/sport/general/coach-happydespite-belting/1194092.html
