ROC’s on the right track

By Brad Kingsbury
ROC proved itself a genuine finals contender on Saturday, despite going down to Doveton by 14 points in a topclass match at the Officer Reserve.
The Kangaroos did everything but defeat the reigning premiers in a desperate final term after trailing by five points at the last change.
Doveton swooped and ran the ball out of defence to convert on several occasions late in the match, maintaining a slender lead and withstanding each thrust forward by the Kangaroo until the final siren.
ROC coach Hayden Stanton lamented his side’s mistakes, but took solace from the fact that he was without two key players in ruckman David Main and centre halfback Ben Waite, who should be available for the return clash.
“We should have won the game,” he said.
“We didn’t make the right decisions going forward and they kicked goals on our turnovers. It’s something that Doveton does very well.
“I was very happy with the effort and I thought we really served it up to them. We just lacked a couple of guys in our structure.”
Doveton started the match like it meant business and kicked away to a 14point lead at the first break.
Coach Steve Henwood was relatively happy with the effort, but that changed in the second term when ROC lifted and hit the front twice, thanks to some lacklustre chasing by Doveton’s running brigade.
Complacency began to creep in and the Kangaroos took advantage to lead the contest by five points at halftime.
Doveton lost Dale Kilpatrick who broke his leg just before the long interval, forcing Henwood to restructure his defence.
The third term was tense with several lead changes and some magnificent individual efforts by Doves Matthew Miller, Justin Hill and David George, together with Callum White, Jarrod Goodes and Brad Jones from ROC, keeping the crowd on their feet.
The final term saw Doveton lift and maintain an advantage with increased run and skill, but ROC’s will never lapsed and the Doves knew they had been in a battle afterwards.
Henwood acknowledged the coming of age of the Kangaroos after the game and said there was still significant improvement needed by his team.
“They’re a good side and they are playing an excellent brand of football. They’re a fairly wellskilled side and I was impressed with them,” he said.
“We were slow to get rid of the ball. Every coach is saying ‘do not let Doveton run’ and we’re finding, when we pick up the ball, we’re getting nailed. We’ve just got to get a bit sharper.
“We started to get the ball moving in the second half and I thought that was probably what got us back into it.
“It was a great game and it’s great being a part of our football at the moment.”