One quarter of good footy not enough for Roosters

THE spark North Adelaide would have wanted from the side after sacking a coach was on display against West Adelaide at Prospect on Saturday — but only for one quarter.

THE spark North Adelaide officials would have wanted from the side after sacking a coach was on display during the third quarter against West Adelaide at Prospect yesterday.

Roosters players worked hard, harassed the Bloods into errors and kicked six goals for the term while keeping the visitors scoreless.

The problem for North fans was the club was appalling in the first half, except for the opening 15 minutes, and not much better in the final term.

A week after a 99-point away defeat to Central District, the Roosters sustained a 76-point thumping at the hands of the Bloods.

North’s lack of accountability when it does not have the football is a major issue, as is the fact that senior players bob in and out of games. And low confidence does not help, either.

Interim coach Michael Handby, who replaced Ken McGregor a fortnight ago, has had a tough induction and was under no illusions his bottom-placed team was anything other than a work in progress.

“I’m always disappointed to lose, especially with the first half and the manner we went about it,” Handby said.

“We responded in the third quarter but fell away again in the last quarter.

“When you’re the bottom side on the ladder, there’s obviously a lot of areas to improve but for us it’s mainly about consistency of effort.”

As poor as North was in the first half, West was exceptional.

Mark Mickan has got the Bloods playing fast, attacking football and it is no surprise they are the highest scoring team in the league, averaging 95.6 points per game.

After the Roosters butchered some chances in front of goals, West kicked the only seven majors of the first term.

It was more of the same in the second quarter as the Bloods defended strongly and kicked six goals to one, pushing out to a 72-point half-time lead.

For a while in the first half, West was doing as it pleased.

Whenever the Bloods streamed forward they seemed to have a bevy of unmarked players ahead of the ball while North showed little intent to stop the rot.

Every time West kicked a goal, the Roosters’ defensive pressure dropped further.

North’s second goal came two minutes into the third quarter via Alan Obst.

That sparked the Roosters, who looked a different outfit for the duration of the term and gave themselves a chance of snatching an unlikely win by cutting the margin to 33 points at three-quarter time.

But North’s charge lasted only for 25 or so minutes.

As soon as West kicked back-to-back goals to start the last term, the Roosters dropped away again.

“It was clearly a very good first, second and fourth (quarters) and a very poor third,” Bloods coach Mark Mickan said.

“To the players’ credit we regrouped at three-quarter time, were able to steady the ship and kick away again.”

Shannon Green was the star of the final term for West, booting five goals.

Kaine Stevens dominated all day for the Bloods, finishing with 38 disposals, 10 clearances and two goals.