Gisborne Giants coach Andrew Hall discusses the club’s first four RDFNL matches

Riddell District expansion club Gisborne Giants have made a 0-4 start but coach Andrew Hall has an differing view on the club’s performances.

Matt Quigley in action for Gisborne Giants. Picture: Lissa Hall

Gisborne Giants are 0-4 and coach Andrew Hall has “enjoyed every minute of it”.

The Riddell District expansion club has shown some promising signs in its debut season, pushing Woodend-Hesket to 27 points on Saturday in its best performance to date.

In its opening three matches, the Giants lost to Kyneton by 110 points, Macedon by 53 and Melton South by 84.

Positively, the club has cracked 60 points in two of its four outings and scored 59 in the rain-affected clash with the Panthers.

Matt Quigley, James Hall, Matt Wallace and Brodie Andrews have been outstanding, while skipper and key forward Brad Mangan has 10 goals.

Matt Quigley in action for Gisborne Giants. Picture: Lissa Hall

Gisborne travels to fellow winless club Lancefield on Saturday looking to open its senior account.

Hall admits its an unusual feeling for a winless club but it’s an unusual season.

“We’ve had a wonderful start,” he said.

“At 0-4, we had a gathering on Saturday night but the feeling around the place was totally excitement about travelling to Lancefield this week.

“The club has put so much work into building the program, to get to this point with a bunch of young people and our older stock who couldn’t be happier with where we’re at, it’s really good signs.

“We’re pinching ourselves we’re in the comp and been competitive.”

Gisborne’s young players could have been forgiven for throwing in the towel at half-time against Woodend, having just given up a nine-goal second term to trail by 43 points.

However, the Giants won the second half – the first time they’ve achieved that – and Hall said it felt like the club had had a win.

“We’re starting to better understand the type of footy we want to play, take the game on and having an attacking mindset, I encourage them to make mistakes and learn from them,” Hall said.

“It was an interesting half-time, we came in knowing we’d taken the foot off the pedal and that’s what good sides can do to you.

“I challenged the group to sustain a four-quarter effort and they came out with a renewed vigour, save for some decision-making errors and things that are easily fixable, we were in the game.

“To quote Craig Macrae, we felt like we were winners, we felt at the end of the game we’d had a small win.”

While the Kyneton season-opener was a blow out, Gisborne was only 10 points down at half-time against Macedon, last year’s preliminary finalist.

The team was 32 points behind at half-time against Melton South.

Hall said match fitness and consistency were areas of improvement.

“The game against Kyneton was exactly what we expected against what we think will be a top-four side,” he said.

“The learnings that came out of that game, particularly the level of the competition and the type of gamestyle – the contested style the league is known for – really showed. That was a great learning curve for our kids.

“The second game against Macedon was a really good game to better understand a top-four side.

“They had a few out but nonetheless we adjusted better to the pace of the game, certainly to the contested ball, for a half or a little more of a half of footy.

“The game against Melton South, on a smaller ground, heavily contested in poor conditions was a real test for our younger group.

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“Nonetheless, we were in the game until about the 20 minute-mark of the third quarter and I was really pleased with the effort.

“Again, just getting that match fitness and readiness into 10 to 12 kids that had played under four games of senior football became telling.”

Gisborne will be eyeing a historic win at Lancefield on Saturday against a Tigers outfit desperate for a win themselves, currently riding a 20-game losing streak

It then gets difficult with matches against grand finalist Wallan, 2023 premier Diggers Rest and reigning premier Riddell before a Round 9 bye.