AFL Outer-East: Nathan Johns sends Belgrave back around the cones and it pays off against Warburton Millgrove
Belgrave coach Nathan Johns sent his side back out around the cones last week. The reward was a breakthrough win and some spark for the rest of the season.
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Last Tuesday, coach Nathan Johns took Belgrave back to school.
He put the cones out on the field and walked his squad through the game plan and structures step by step.
After a string of defeats, the coaching staff had to pinpoint what was going awry.
“On Tuesday night at training we had a visual mapping out of the game plan,” he said.
The Belgrave boss said that during his time at Crib Point he’d had a number of school teachers on staff and they’d told him some people learn visually, some learn by instructions and some need to be walked through things and ask questions along the way.
Just like school, there’d been players who didn't want to put up their hands and admit they weren’t sure what was going on.
“There were key players in the side who didn’t know the game plan and the structures and what we were trying to do,” Johns said. “So we mapped it out on the ground with the cones and walked it through.
“That really paid dividends.”
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On Saturday, the re-set was rewarded when the Magpies came from a 29-point deficit at quarter-time to beat Warburton Millgrove 13.11 (89) to 8.15 (63) at the Mac Sparke Oval.
Jayden Wood and Elliott Avis kicked three goals each with Avis, Steven Stredwick and Aaron Johns named best afield.
Johns was full of praise for the leadership Avis is providing for a very young Belgrave line-up while putting Stredwick behind the ball had really helped the team.
“His ability to intercept mark and attack the footy and use it well really sets us up,” Johns said. "He’s going to really take his game to another level this back half (of the season) and will cause some hassle for opposition forwards.”
After leapfrogging Warburton at the foot of the ladder, Johns said the Magpies were looking ahead to a season-defining fortnight.
“Now we’ve got that confidence, got a bit of a spark,” he said. “And now we're back at home against Doveton and Officer on a smaller ground that they’re not used to.
“We need to stick to the plan and raise our standards at training during the week.
“If we can get a scalp or two in the next few weeks we’ll put a statement back at the competition that we are not the easybeats.”
For much of the season, the young Belgrave line-up had been showing gradual improvement with most opposition coaches acknowledging just how tough an opponent the Magpies had been.
“That’s been our goal,” Johns said. “Inside the four walls of the club we wanted improvement from our list and, so far, we've been ticking those boxes.”
But with youth and inexperience comes inconsistency in performance.
After opening with a creditable 13-point loss to runaway ladder-leader Monbulk, the Magpies beat Emerald in round two before a string of competitive defeats.
The only major blemishes came in Rounds 7 and 8 with back-to-back thrashings at the hands of Mount Evelyn (112 points) and Monbulk (124 points).
“In those games, the guys tended to get in a rut and started going into self-preservation mode,” Johns said.
Belgrave, 2-8 and seventh, plays host to Doveton, 6-4 and third, at the Belgrave Football Ground this Saturday.
In other games this week, Monbulk remained unbeaten after a 13.12 (90) to 9.7 (61) win over Officer at home while Mt Evelyn hosted Emerald and won 14.16 (100) to 12.6 (78). And, Pakenham was too strong for Doveton, winning 14.15 (99) to 9.4 (58) at Toomuc Reserve.
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