WARRNAMBOOL is counting the cost of its heavy loss to South Warrnambool with midfield jet Darcy Graham suffering a suspected serious leg injury.
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Darcy was taken off Reid Oval on a stretcher after injuring himself in the opening two minutes of the Blues’ 13.15 (93) to 7.7 (49) defeat.
The Blues adapted well to the early hit to their rotations to be within nine points at half-time.
But the Roosters piled on seven unanswered goals in the third term to snuff any chance of an upset.
South Warrnambool coach Mathew Buck, who has guided his team to nine wins from 10 games this season, was pleased with the Roosters’ ability to stay in the contest when the Blues provided a first-half challenge.
“I thought our first half when things weren’t going our way was good too, if that makes sense,” he said.
“When Warrnambool had a lot of the ball and perhaps things weren’t going our way, we still found a way to score and managed to make them not get out in front.
“It was nice to be able to keep a good defensive effort even though things weren’t working for us.”
Buck said the Roosters rallied and had backed their ability.
“The second half was really good. We thought we’d just keep believing in the system and the game might open up,” he said.
“I thought maybe in the first half we were making a few errors with our judgment calls with where we were going to put the ball.
“In the second half I think we were a little bit more direct with our ball use.”
Warrnambool coach John Cook said Graham’s injury ”was the start of what ended up being a bad day”.
He lamented the Blues’ skill errors, particularly when going forward, and was disappointed in laspes in discipline.
They were a player down when Otto Opperman was sent off during the third-term lapse.
“I was reasonably happy with our first half,” Cook said.
“Our pressure was really good but once you get a rotation down and a few other blokes got a bit sore as well, it played against us.
“The difference I belief was that South Warrnambool’s skill and execution was at a really high level.
“We can’t think we are going to win games where we’re competitive if we can’t hold onto the ball or pass it to our own teammates.”
Brad Bull (head knock) also made the Blues’ injury list.