Kolora-Noorat’s gritty victory over premiership favourites Nirranda has answered a few burning questions within the Power’s coaching ranks.
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Assistant coach Ben Walsh, who stepped up in the absence of Danny Finn, said his side had questions as to where it was at but those were answered on Saturday.
“When you play against the best side in the competition and come away with a win it gives us confidence that we’re around the mark and our footy is good enough,” he said after the 11.8 (74) to 9.9 (63) victory over the Blues.
“There is a month to go and we just have to make sure that we set the bar there now and that’s what we have to maintain for the next three home and away games and then see what happens next.”
The Power stormed out of the blocks and led all day. Entering three-quarter-time, they held a seven-goal lead before the Blues stormed home in the last term to fall just short.
Walsh said the key to the Power’s dominance in the first three quarters because they kept things simple.
“We stripped it (the game plan) back and just focused on making sure we were setting the scene in terms of contested football,” the midfielder said.
“We wanted to pressure and then when we got the footy we took the game on. It was pretty simple, defend really hard and then take the game on and attack.
“We did that for three quarters until we ran our of petrol late and they started to get the ball out of the middle and put us under pressure. But we were able to hold on.”
The Power remain in third spot on the ladder, four points behind Old Collegians, which they play in round 18.
Nirranda co-coach Shane Threlfall said he was disappointed in the Blues’ first three quarters.
“The first quarter, despite them getting a bit on the scoreboard, our KPIs were okay but we didn’t have much composure compared to them,” he said.
“But in the second and third quarters we dropped away our intensity and they capitalised and they were by far the best side for three quarters.
“But you aren’t going to beat sides by playing one quarter of footy and we still got within a couple of goals. We played well late which has showed that we can match it with them but we need to put four quarters together to beat sides as good as the Power.”
Nirranda still sits at the top of the ladder after 15 rounds.
Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
