By Brad Kingsbury
ROC retained its slim finals hopes with a convincing 10-goal win over a lethargic and seemingly uninterested Devon Meadows at the Glover Reserve on Saturday.
The Panthers were a far cry from the tenacious side that went within one point of toppling fourth-placed Narre Warren the previous week and coach Steve O’Brien was at his wit’s end trying to work his side out.
“We’re a real Jekyll and Hyde side and it’s just so frustrating,” he said afterwards.
“There was no reason for the effort we gave other than a complete mental lapse. It’s the worst result since I’ve been coaching the club.”
ROC’s running playmakers, led by Greg Tivendale, Shaun Jones, Ash Comer and Steve Hawkins, blitzed their rivals after an opening term that saw the only real negative for the Kangaroos when coach and star on-baller Kris Fletcher left the field after a heavy clash with Panther captain Jesse Dehey.
Fletcher went straight to hospital with suspected fractured ribs and a punctured lung, leaving co-coach Richard Brown in charge.
It turned out to be a happy debut for Brown with the Kangaroos completely outplaying their opponents for the rest of the day to win with plenty left in reserve.
Centre half-forward Kym Jones was a great target all day, while defender turned full-forward Brendan Graham led and marked strongly to end the day with six goals.
Another huge positive for ROC was the continued good form of its four exciting teenagers in Hawkins, Rhys Reddaway, Mark Van Den Acker and Luke Johnson, who are the future of the club.
Little went right for O’Brien’s side on the day and with the exception of veteran Scott Morrison and Tom Hussey, few Panthers had any impact on the contest.
Key forward Aaron Henneman hurt his knee and was virtually on one leg in the third term, which became obvious after he marked strongly twice within 40 metres, but passed the ball off rather than risk his kick dropping short.
Henneman spent the final term on the bench and was sore after the game, putting him in doubt for next weekend’s clash with Hampton Park.
O’Brien said that his players simply did not follow instructions and the intensity at the contest was non-existent, too often leaving ROC with a clear run at the ball.
Brown was ecstatic after the game and predicted that the result would be a turning point for their season.
“That was our best performance for the year,” he said.
“We’ve played as well in patches in other games, but we didn’t let up at all today and that was really pleasing and a good step forward.
“Everything we set up before the game just worked. We wanted to be hard at the contest and first to the ball one-on-one. We’ve done that for a quarter, maybe two quarters in previous weeks, but we did it all day today and the results show.
“It was unfortunate that Kris wasn’t here to see it, but I think we can continue on from here now.”
