TERANG Mortlake may look to step out of its wheelhouse to contend for the Hampden senior football flag in the near future, according to coach Michael Sargeant.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bloods were found wanting despite their best efforts against Koroit last Saturday, going on to lose by 91 points as the Saints got on top around the contest.
“We tried our hardest, there’s no worries about that,” Sargeant said. “Just their bigger bodies got on top of us around the stoppages and things like that.”
It is an area Sargeant says the Bloods might look to target with their recruiting for next season.
Terang Mortlake has already had a couple of compelling recruiting success stories this season, with young Northern Territory duo Jess Budarick and Brodie Carroll often among the Bloods’ best.
“(Koroit’s) midfield is just so strong and they’ve got bigger bodies and it’s really hard to compete against,” Sargeant said.
“Maybe you try to recruit those bigger bodies, but at the same time, we’ve never been a club that’s really done that.”
Sargeant applauded the smart recruiting of the competition’s leading teams.
With most Hampden teams capped at 40 points under the AFL Victoria player points system, Koroit’s line-up from Saturday just snuck in under the cap at 39 points. Port Fairy used its full allocation of 45 points.
Terang Mortlake, by contrast, used just 25 of its available points. The minimum possible points value for a Hampden team is 21.
The Bloods have been a surprise packet this season, putting in Jekyll-and-Hyde performances that yielded stirring victories against Port Fairy and North Warrnambool Eagle, but also saw disheartening thumpings at the hands of Camperdown and South Warrnambool.
But Sargeant said unlike the earlier losses, there was little to fault with how his team went about things against Koroit.