By Mitch Turner
It was a nail-biting encounter between Glen Waverley and Scoresby on Saturday to kick start the Division Three season on Saturday, which ultimately culminated in the two teams splitting the four points in an enthralling 64-64 draw in challenging conditions at Central Reserve and coach Dylan Price is choosing to take a positive outlook on his side’s performance.
The Magpies came flying out the gates early on in the match, seemingly driven by their drop down the divisions, and owned the first half despite being away from home, pulling away to a healthy 20-point advantage at quarter time and keeping the Hawks are arm’s length in the second quarter to lead by 17 at the main break.
The Hawks steadily chipped away at the Magpies lead in the second half and were led by ever present goal sneak Adam Amin who booted three majors to start his year, whilst Jack Steinfort and Brandon Hodges were amongst the best players in the comeback.
Adam Amin booted three goals for Glen Waverley on the weekend.
Glen Waverley coach Dylan Price credited his team’s turnaround in the second half to their superior fitness and conditioning, which has been a major focus area across the extended pre-season period.
“(The team) has done a lot of work over the extended break on our fitness … so we felt like we had the legs to outlast them”, he said.
This inner confidence worked in well with the emphasis of Price’s messages to the squad at each of the breaks, which was to keep running hard, playing their roles and stick to their game plan despite the pressure being applied by the relegated Magpies in the early stages of their encounter.
Despite being unable to start their 2021 campaign with the full four points, the Hawks mentor was glass half full on his squad’s performance given the effort they put in to overturn the slow start.
“Given we (the Hawks) were behind for most of the afternoon the fact that we were able to fight back and steal a draw is to be looked at as a positive”.
Glen Waverley struggled to a 3-15 record back in 2019, and Price said that this week’s result was a good one to build some confidence and momentum, but he noted that his team don’t want to get too far ahead of themselves given the early stage of the season and their inability to take all four points.
The Hawks have the bye in round two, and while Price acknowledges maintaining the momentum and enthusiasm generated last weekend will “not (be) easy to do”, he sees this opportunity to have a week off as somewhat of a positive since a number of players pulled up fairly sore after their first competitive match in over 18 months.
“We’ll have a lighter session tonight and then it’ll be out on the track on Thursday and then next Tuesday, trying to keep up that intensity”, he said.
“I guess it (the bye) does allow for a bit more recovery time than what you would normally get and give us a chance to get in some more high-intensity training leading into round three”.