THIRD-YEAR Kolora-Noorat mentor Danny Finn has challenged his men to eliminate potentially fatal lapses to maintain their stronghold on top spot.
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A dominate first-half ensured the Power accounted for Dennington on Saturday, but Finn urged his side to rise above a second half which yielded just four goals to the Dogs’ eight.
The former South Warrnambool leader described the clash, which finished 24 points in the Power’s favour, as a game of two halves.
“Dennington were very good in that second half, and we maybe expected them to bring that earlier," he said.
“We took the foot off the pedal a little bit and they are definitely as hard to beat as any team in the competition on their home deck.
“We did enough, but I challenged the boys and asked ‘are you happy with that? Just doing enough?’ hopefully we’ll see a response next week.”
Finn praised several young players – including best on ground Luke McConnell – for their efforts in the feat.
He said encouraging performances from Bailey Kemp, Tyler Beasley, Brad Lucas and Callan Hadfield meant the Power’s coaching staff had selection headaches.
“The sub rule has definitely benefited these young guys over the last couple of years, and they’ve got two or three solid games in as juniors,” Finn said.
“They’ve then been able to come up with a full steam of form.
“Luke McConnell kicked five goals, yet he hasn’t played a senior game all year. However, he was our best player in the final last year.
“It’s just a timing thing. I think we’ve wanted to make sure these guys were fit and ready to go before they come and play.”
Dennington coach Jake Rhodes said while he wasn’t satisfied with a loss, his players had taken heart out of their second-half performance.
“There were some really good signs. You’re obviously disappointed to lose, but they’re the best in it,” he said.
“They’ve got a couple of injuries, but to finish off the way we did, it was really good.
“In that first quarter, with the wind, we didn’t score enough and in the second quarter they got away on us a little bit.
“The message was that we’ve matched it with them and that we should take a bit of confidence out of that. We’ve got to be disappointed in the loss but we’ve matched it with them.”
