EFL 2022: ‘Glass half-full’ outlook for Boronia coach following lean month

The Hawks’ past month has yielded just one win – but Saturday’s showing has senior coach Matt Clark confident his group can bounce back. Here’s why.

Boronia has lost four of its past five matches.

But senior coach Matt Clark remains confident his side can arrest its slide.

The Hawks went down to Division 2 ladder-leader South Belgrave by five points on Saturday and are fifth on the ladder with a 3-4-1 record.

They’ve beaten Mulgrave (fourth), Oakleigh District (10th) and Heathmont (eighth) this season – the latter being their only win in the past month.

The Hawks have banked just one win in the past five weeks. Picture: David Nicholas Photography

The lean month prompted this feedback from the premiership coach.

“It’s a bit frustrating for me and the club because we haven’t been consistent,” Clark said.

“I’m a realist too that we’ve not been good enough for long enough in games, and I own that.

“We’ve changed our game-style, it’s not going to be pretty for the first half of the year, we knew that.

“We’re trying to play a more aggressive style and that’s opened us up a little bit at times around the footy and behind the footy – if we’re not on the same page at times, that’s going to look pretty poor in patches.”

But Saturday’s narrow loss wasn’t without its positives after the lead changed hands several times in the final quarter.

Clark said despite the result, he was “proud” of his group’s resilience after losing defenders Zack Brasher (shoulder) and Corey Burgess (ankle) during the match, and ruckman Josh Hannon beforehand (flu).

“Our effort was huge – that would’ve stood up against anyone, anywhere,” Clark said.

“Honourable losses are frustrating and they’re not what we’re about, but it certainly was effort, energy and the way we applied ourselves.

“I’m certainly glass half-full after what we dished up on the weekend in patches.

“Whether it’s Mulgrave, Heathmont, even what we put out on the weekend (at times), we’ve been able to really put sides to the sword. Our good is really good at the moment.”

Boronia senior coach Matt Clark is optimistic his side can bounce back. Picture: Steve Tanner

Five sides will contest finals at season’s end in Division 2 and Clark is confident his group has what it takes to trouble the best should it make it.

“We think if we can get our act together in the second half (of the season), we can really cause some damage,” he said.

“I hope to think that people wouldn’t want to play us if we made it to the finals.”

Boronia takes on Knox this weekend before the Queen’s Birthday weekend bye.

“We’re not taking Knox lightly either, we see this as a great opportunity to build consistency over two weeks,” Clark said.