NORTH Ballarat coach Clint Proctor has hailed his side’s 24-point win over in-form Bacchus Marsh as a ‘great response’ to their season-opening loss to Ballarat.<\/p>\n
A fired-up Roosters, determined to make amends for their 13-point loss to the Swans, held the ascendancy for the bulk of the contest against the Cobras on their home deck, running out impressive winners 10.14 (74) to 7.8 (50).<\/p>\n
It’s set the scene for a classic confrontation this Sunday at Mars Stadium against East Point, which gave reigning premier Darley the fright of its life at Eastern Oval.<\/p>\n
The Kangaroos led by five points early in time-on, before the Devils slammed on five late goals to claim a stirring 28-point win.<\/p>\n
North Ballarat, which inflicted the Cobras’ first loss of the season following a pair of stirring wins over East Point and Melton, set up its win with a stifling first half.<\/p>\n
The Roosters restricted the Cobras to just two first-half goals, taking a 26-point lead into the main break.<\/p>\n
With Brock Leonard and Josh Morris leading from the front and Denver Grainger-Barras (four goals) providing a solid target, Proctor was rapt to be on the board and happy to have built some momentum.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t handle the last 10 minutes very well last week (against Ballarat), but we learned from it with some good lessons,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I thought we responded well from last week. In the middle, our pressure was much better and our game is built off that.<\/p>\n
“We were able to get some good ball movement.<\/p>\n
“I thought Josh Morris was really good again; he set things up well from half-back.<\/p>\n
“Brock Leonard was really strong inside. I thought all our leaders stood up \u2026 (captain) Elliott Lamb.<\/p>\n
“As did a lot of our young boys stand up and improve their performance from last week.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully they’ll take some good learnings from round 1 into the rest of the year.”<\/p>\n
Of the younger brigade, Proctor said Wilbur Shea and Taj Bowman both had some good moments and would only gain in stature as the season progressed.<\/p>\n
Just as exciting for the second-year Roosters coach is the flourishing partnership between Jye Lockett and Grainger-Barras in attack.<\/p>\n
“They have been great together and working really well,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Denver got onto the end of some really good play upfield, but credit goes to Jye Lockett as well.<\/p>\n
“I’m sure Jye will get his returns soon and Denver can get up the field and do some hard work as well.”<\/p>\n
Bacchus Marsh listed Jack Parente, Ethan Mckercher, Luke Goetz, Jake Owen, Josh Huxtable and Cody Gates as its best players.<\/p>\n
Another pleasing aspect of the victory for the Roosters was winning away from home, at a venue and against a team they have struggled with in recent times.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had some real issues in the past with Jake Owen and Jake McCreery when he was there kicking bags,” Proctor said.<\/p>\n
“So it was probably one of our better performances.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, we can build some belief from it.”<\/p>\n
On this Sunday’s opponent, Proctor said: “East Point obviously played well against Darley and were right in it up until half-time against Bacchus Marsh as well.<\/p>\n
“The competition is really even this year and this is another of the games that will show us where we are really at.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH Ballarat coach Clint Proctor has hailed his side’s 24-point win over in-form Bacchus Marsh as a ‘great response’ to their season-opening loss to Ballarat. A fired-up Roosters, determined to make amends for their 13-point loss to the Swans, held the ascendancy for the bulk of the contest against the Cobras on their home deck, […]<\/p>\n