Reservoir coach Jason Hamilton hits back at critics after Round 1 loss

Reservoir coach Jason Hamilton has hit back at critics after the Mustangs’ Round 1 thumping saying the club won’t be rebuilt in a day.

Reservoir president Luke Bryant and re-signed coach Jason Hamilton. Picture: Supplied

Reservoir coach Jason Hamilton admits Saturday’s showing against South Morang was disappointing but has hit back at critics who say the club should fold.

The Mustangs were thumped by 173 points in their NFL Division 3 season-opener at Crispe Park.

After a competitive first quarter the Lions booted 27 goals to three, including 14 in the fourth term, to run out big winners.

The reaction on social media inspired Hamilton to defend his team after and reinforce the club’s rebuilding plan.

“A lot of the young fellas were hurting badly after the game but I said to them we can only control what happens in our club,” he said.

Tom Holloway in action for Reservoir.

“What a lot of people don’t realise is we played 13 first-gamers on Saturday and had another six players that have played less than 15 games at senior level.

“South Morang are a young team too but they’ve all come through the junior ranks together and to their credit they were a very accomplished, very well-drilled team.

“It’s not all doom and gloom, I hate to sound like David Noble from North Melbourne, but it is a process.

“As I said from the start when I took the job we’re going to have our highs and lows, probably more lows than highs, but it’s the way we ride them out.”

The Mustangs were also down three players by the final siren.

Captain Petar Pavlovic and Ben Mowlam face weeks on the sidelines while Zane Pugliese-Thompson’s season could be over after a serious finger injury.

Hamilton is bracing for an even tougher test against premiership favourite Laurimar this week.

“We have got a few injuries from Saturday, which is a shame, so I’m probably going to put and even more inexperienced team out against a powerhouse in Laurimar,” he said.

“People were saying we’re going to end up folding by the end of the year, which is rubbish.

“We’ve got 55 players on the list and they’re all super keen.

“There’s no excuses, that’s one of our mottos for 2021.”

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Reservoir hasn’t won a game since 2018 but Hamilton is only interesting in seeing improvement in his players.

“We reviewed the game and we were kicking at 25 per cent and that’s nowhere near close to winning the game, let alone being in the game,” he said.

“We’re going back to the drawing board skills wise, we’re going to be working on those non-stop in the next three to four weeks and we’ll become a lot more competitive.

“The competition looks powerful this year, we’re behind the eight ball when it comes to experience and our goal is just to improve.”