By RUSSELL BENNETT
“LOOK around at every single other player here – you know they’re going to put their body on the line for you.
“That’s the way it’s got to be for the whole entire game because if you don’t continue with it, the game will fall away very quickly.
“Sides like this will always keep coming at you. It’s how you respond to your time to go – to your time to put your body on the line.
“It’s not worth four points – it’s worth more than that out there today.
“This is about character, our status in the community.
“You’re playing against people who think they’re better than you are. There’s no hiding in games like these – you’ve got to take them head-on every time.”
– Ellinbank and District coach Ron Hampton to his troops, just prior to the senior interleague game against Mid Gippsland on Saturday.
THE MENTOR
RONNIE Hampton hasn’t had the easiest time of it in the coaching arena since he led last year’s EDFL interleague side to victory over Alberton.
Taking the reins of Poowong this year, he was charged with somehow lifting a side that seemed desperately bereft of confidence, and star power. That’s not taking pot shots at the Magpies – it’s just the reality of the situation. The club’s winless start to the year came to a head yesterday in dramatic fashion as Hampton stepped down from the role, effective immediately.
And yet straight after Saturday’s big win over Mid Gippsland, it seemed a great load had already been lifted. It all came back him – just what that winning feeling feels like.
“In rep footy, you don’t want to have to fight tooth and nail until the end,” Hampton told the Gazette straight after the EDFL’s 89-point win.
“If you get the chance to put the game away, you have to take it.
“I think our boys built on their effort from last year against Alberton – this was a very similar game style with the same sort of blokes who can run and carry and use their skills.
“My philosophy is simple – you have to let these guys explore their talent.
“They’ve been selected in the side for a reason and you have to let them show what they’re capable of.”
Hampton put the onus on his charges to storm away in the third quarter on Saturday – to put their feet on the throat of the hapless opposition and not ease up. They listened – leading by 64 points at the final change.
With 22 minutes gone in the final term and the game long won, Cora Lynn youngster Jeremy Monckton epitomised everything Hampton was trying to get across to his men. He put in half a dozen efforts in a single contest along the wing – refusing to give in until his side had won possession. It wasn’t lost on the coach.
“As a kid playing his first game of senior interleague footy – and Tyson Bale was the same – they were just outstanding,” he said.
“Our pressure was fantastic from the start and that’s what we focused on – pressure on them.
“I heard that if you pile the pressure on them they cough it up – that’s the style of footy they play – and it showed in the end.”
