SFNL: Bentleigh coach Kristian Bardsley explains how his side broke their losing streak

Bentleigh coach Kristian Bardsley has explained how his side built on an excellent 30-minute passage of football from the week before to record their first win of 2023 last Saturday.

Bentleigh FC

When Bentleigh coach Kristian Bardsley addressed his players after their Round 5 loss to Springvale Districts, his message was simple.

He urged his players to trust the process.

The Demons were bullied out of the game in the first half in that fixture, going into the main break seven goals adrift from their opponent.

However, Bentleigh managed to boot seven goals to one in the third term – 10 to six in the second half – to head back into the rooms after the game with some form to build on.

A quick seven days later, Bardsley said he used that third term bonanza as inspiration to his players ahead of Saturday’s match with Mordialloc.

His Demons obliged, carrying out a terrific 8.15 (63) to 4.11 (35) win over the Bloodhounds.

Bentleigh is working towards a stable future.

“It was relieving but it was more getting a bit of reward,” Bardsley said.

“Whilst we haven’t won a game, we haven’t been terrible, we’ve been in games for period of times and then let it slip, which has hurt us.

“The week before against Springy Districts, we weren’t great in the first half and then we had a really good second half and I think that second half showed us what we can do.

“We took that into Saturday’s game and we were pretty consistent for most of the game.

“I said to them, what we’re doing is new and whilst it’s taking a while to get embedded in our game, we can see when we play how we want to play, we’re very competitive

“That gave them a bit of confidence because we hadn’t scored a lot and hadn’t kicked a lot of goals in the first five weeks.

“So, to kick seven goals in a quarter showed the boys what they’re capable of and it gave them a fair bit of confidence moving into Saturday.”

Max Charlesworth ahead of his senior debut.

Bailey Fitzsimon ahead of his senior debut.

Although still attached to the tail of three other sides on a solitary win due to poor percentage, Bardsley has outlined how he wants his side to be perceived for the remainder of the year.

“It’s all about what we do without the footy, we are going to make it that we have really good effort and we play to a structure,” he said.

“We know if we play that way we will be competitive in most games, our philosophy is to get better every week.

“If we continue to get better, stay in games for longer, we will have more chances in winning games.

“We don’t see a ceiling on what we can and can’t do, we are a young group, we are a new group, we are still learning.

“We want to compete, compete, compete but we don’t want to be happy with just competing, we want to win games of footy.”

The Demons take on two of the aforementioned sides with one win – St Kilda City and Chelsea Heights – in the next two rounds.