Storm fires early warning shot in stirring win over Bloods

IN the lead up to his club’s season opener against South Bendigo, new Strathfieldsaye coach Jeff Andrews spoke of his confidence in improvement from the Storm this season.

As far as first impressions go, the former SANFL coach and VFL assistant couldn’t be happier with the progress following a gutsy seven-point win at Tannery Lane.

But he’s been around long enough to know that one win alone does not define a season, so expect improvement to be a recurring theme for the Storm, particularly throughout the early part of the BFNL season.

And while it might have only been round one, a crucial first-up win came under a finals-like atmosphere, before a big home crowd and against a high-calibre opponent.

“We really rate South as being one of the improved sides from last year, and to be honest, they were thereabouts last year,” Andrews said.

“But rather than expectations, we were just interested in the improvement from our players.

“I am coming in and still getting to learn the Bendigo league. I know who the good sides are, but we are all about getting improvement into our players and taking it week-to-week.

“I know it’s a cliché, we’ll just review the game, and there were plenty of learning out of it.

“There was some stuff that was excellent in the first half, but we went away from that in the second half, combined with South’s really good play.

“They not only bridged the gap, but put a bit of a gap on us.

“We’ll get better from that.

“To be honest, it was just a great game of footy.”

Andrews gave full marks to his players for their composure, surviving a see-sawing contest in which the lead changed hands five times in the final quarter.

 

One of three VFL-listed recruits, Drew Lloyd proved pivotal in attack with four goals, while another Tyson McKenzie booted three late in the game after pushing forward from the midfield, including the sealer after scores were tied deep in time on.

The Bloods had a potent force of their own, with former AFL star James Frawley debuting with five goals.

A friend of former coach Nathan Horbury, who is back in red and white this season as a fly-in-fly-out player from his home in Queensland, Frawley is expected to make sporadic performances for the Bloods during the season in a boost to their forward stocks.

When available, he will go some way to compensating for the loss of Kaiden Antonowicz, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Bloods’ big standalone win over Broadford to open their season.

Andrews was rapt with the first-up returns of Lloyd, McKenzie and fellow VFL-listed player Zane Keighran across half back.

“Drew and Tyson have been doing VFL pre-seasons, so there’s no worries about the fitness level, but the connection and getting to know their teammates could have been an issue, but they have bought in and been at the club whenever they can,” he said.

“That helped with the synergy and putting the score on the board.

“Zane went well, but needed the run. He’s only just got back to full training from an interrupted pre-season and had only done a bit of match simulation, so no practice matches.

“But there were a couple of nice intercept marks and some good ball use and he will no doubt be better for the run.”

Following an interrupted past two seasons due to injuries, Mitch Hallinan shone for the Storm down back, while Bendigo Pioneers graduate Jaidi Jackson-Leahy and Cooper Jones were busy and particularly prominent when the chips were down as South surged with an eight-goal to four third quarter.

Gun midfielder Brody Haddow earned the nod as the Bloods’ best ahead of Callum Crisp, with recruits Tom Templeton and Coen Harker and Josh Nitschke all backing their excellent form from the previous week against Broadford.

The Bloods will look to rebound against Gisborne in their first home game of the season, while Strathfieldsaye will have an early bye before returning for a round three clash in Gisborne on 18 April.

Andrews pinpointed at least two areas of their game as in need of some attention.

“We don’t won’t teams to be kicking 100 points against us every week, even good sides, so we’ll need to tighten up defensively,” he said.

“Their midfield got on top for parts of the game, especially from the centre bounce; they were really strong in there.

“So there’s plenty of stuff to work on.”