DECISION making and skills are key areas of improvement for Lake Boga as the Magpies prepare for Woorinen at home this week.
The Pies were competitive in patches early against Swan Hill last week, with a lapse of concentration costing the visitors in the second quarter.
“I was pleased with our endeavour. The effort was there but we didn’t use the ball well,” Boga coach Jeremy Gleeson said.
“Our decision making and skills came into it — they were much better than us in that department.”
Boga had a light night on Tuesday after the game and will welcome the return of centre half back Nathan Cunning with his inclusion likely to be the only change.
The Pies’ defensive unit will be boosted with Cunning’s return, while Gleeson has already been happy with the form of Hamish Hooppell and Lachlan Sheridan, the latter returning from an injury ruined 2014. Hoopell or Sheridan will likely start on Tiger goal kicker Doug Palmer who was well held by Kerang’s Gregor Campbell last week after booting eight against Balranald at Greenham Park.
Gleeson said the Magpies needed to control the ball movement of the Tigers out of defence.
“They’ve got some good running backs that our forwards will need to man up on,” he said.
“We need to tidy up our skills and get our running game going and put pressure on them to make mistakes.”
Woorinen was good early against Kerang, taking a quarter time lead before the Blues came back into the match in the second stanza.
A one-goal return in the third term was inadequate for the Tigers, who eventually lost by six goals.
Such a lapse is unlikely to be as costly against the Pies but Woorinen will be keen for a four-quarter performance.
For more local footy previews, see Friday’s edition of The Guardian (May 15, 2015).
