By Matt Fotia
Noble Park are heading further and further in the right direction each and every weekend according to new coach Steve Hughes, after his side held on for a tight seven point win over early season front runners South Croydon at the Bullring on Saturday.
The now 2-1 Bulls dominated the stats sheet on Saturday, having 33 more disposals than the previously unbeaten Dogs, along with 11 more clearances and five more inside 50’s, with their first half effort playing a major role in getting the four points, with the boys in yellow and blue booting seven goals to two before the main break.
Kyle Martin gets away for one of his 37 touches on Saturday. Photo – Noble Park Football Club
Kyle Martin and Jackson Sketcher were at it again for Noble Park, with the marquee Bulls duo have 78 disposals between them (37 +31) and 26 of the sides 41 clearances (15+11). Meanwhile defender Ryan Morrison is enjoying a high volume start to the year, leading all comers in the division when it comes to getting his hands on the football, with 93 disposals in three games to start 2021.
Hughes was more impressed with the overall team performance, especially in defence as his side kept South Croydon to almost half of their previous weeks score in their 9.9(63) to 8.8.(56) victory.
“Saturday was definitely a step in the right direction, especially the first hour where we played our best half of footy this year, with simple good fundamentals, strong defensive mechanisms and real intent,”
“That was the core focus of the week, so very pleasing.”
Hughes has previously stated that his Noble Park side would be out to be as defensively sound as possible in 2021, as they look to stay in games against the top five for as long as possible, as they did against Vermont in round two which followed on from their scrappy round one win over newcomers Berwick.
“For us, it’s all well and good to talk about having a strong focus on the defensive elements of the game, it’s another thing to actually go out and execute them,”
“The team has just got to buy in collectively to that side of the game.”
“Down back is one of our strengths, with the likes of Ryan Morrison, Josh Tour, Riet Pal and Tommy Glen, we’ve got a secure back six,”
“So hopefully we’ll be in more games in 2021.”
It’s not all about the back half though for Hughes, with the Bulls looking to find some synergy within their front half as the season goes on.
A common flaw, according to many pundits, of the club in recent times has been their lack of a power forward, with the Bulls relying on a number of smaller forwards and goals from their packed midfield to boot a winning total.
Despite this perception, they rank number one in the division for marks Inside 50 this season, with 34 (11.3 per game).
Hughes says their lack of key forward is both a blessing and a curse.
“We had a reasonable strong focus on connecting our midfield with our forwards (on the weekend),”
“The week before against Vermont we had 20 forward entries in the last quarter for one goal, which is a bit of an alert for us.”
“We’d love to have a 60-70 goal kicker, but the reality is we don’t, so we’re trying to spread the load and be unpredictable,”
“We’ve got Ziggie (Alwan), Liam Scott, Ben Marson etc, so not a lot of talls, more medium sized forwards, so it’s important for us to lower the eyes and use a few more of those hit ups, which can create unpredictability,”
“We’re a pretty young group, which is exciting for us, that first half (v South Croydon) wasn’t perfect footy by any means, but it was a bit step in the right direction and there’s significant improvement in our group as well.”
The fifth placed Bulls come up against an inform – and undefeated – Norwood side this weekend and it looms as a massive fixture for both clubs, as they look to grab four crucial points and improve their chances of a return to finals football, in what many say is the tightest Premier Division (nee Division One) in years.
Hughes says he is expecting a massive midfield battle for his inform side.
They’ve got some quality midfielders and we’ll focus on our stoppage work this week, we think that’s a good space for us at the moment,”
“But they’ll be hard to beat up there.”