Sandringham Coach Paul Hudson is confident his side can turn their form around and secure a top-four spot, despite disappointing losses to Port Melbourne and the Casey Scorpions in the past fortnight.
With successive losses in difficult conditions, the Zebras still hold onto fourth spot but need to secure wins to ensure they don’t slip outside the top-four in the run home.
“Casey got the jump on us early, were tougher in the contest and to their credit, used the wind to their advantage. We were playing catch up footy for three quarters and just couldn’t reel them back in,” Hudson told saints.com.au after Sunday’s loss.
“We also lost Brandon White (hamstring) and Bailey Rice (concussion) early, and being two of our runners, being restricted to just two fit men on the bench didn’t help us either.
“I would’ve liked to see more fight and for the players to run the game out well, but once you get behind like we were, it’s very hard for the team as a collective to get back in the contest in the difficult conditions.”
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Hudson said the Zebras must improve their contested game against flag favourites Williamstown this weekend if they are going to return to the winners list.
“We remember back to the finals last year and Williamstown got the jump on us, something we need to correct this time by matching their strengths - which is the contested ball and tackling pressure,” Hudson said.
“The missed tackles and one arm efforts was disappointing. We had to tackle more because we just didn’t get our hands on the footy enough and they did, which hurt us.
“We’ve just got to get better and we’ll pick a side that we’re confident can deliver on those areas.”
On a positive note in trying conditions, Hudson was happy with the efforts of stand-in-captain Tom Simpkin (12 disposals, 10 tackles), Nick O’Kearney (1 goal, 24 disposals, 11 tackles) and Tom Lee (1 goal, 18 disposals, 4 marks).
It was Lee’s second week he’s been sent forward to provide a target, having now hit the scoreboard in both games.
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