SFNL: East Brighton coach Nick Jewell speaks on his side’s first loss

East Brighton coach Nick Jewell reveals the key factors that led to his side’s first defeat of 2023. See what he said.

East Brighton coach Nick Jewell. Picture: Chris Eastman

East Brighton coach Nick Jewell believes “bad footy” played a huge role in his side suffering its first defeat of 2023.

That “bad footy” was a by-product of Doveton’s pressure when it didn’t have the ball and composure and control when it did.

The Vampires kicked 2.6 to the Doves’ 3.0 in the opening term and mirrored that in the last, firing three minor scores to the hosts 3.1.

While disappointed, Jewell expected his side to have a hiccup at some point.

“Winning form is good form but I think it’s farcical to think anyone can play a full season and not drop their guard at some stage,” he said.

“We didn’t play overly well, bad kicking is bad footy, we had our opportunities and kicked 14 points.

“A lot of that was on the back of Doveton’s pressure, we didn’t get deep entries into the forward 50, a lot of them were set shots from 40 plus metres.”

Nick Jewell. Picture: Chris Eastman

Jewell delved into what led to the 9.5 (59) to 6.14 (50) result, outlining uncontested marks and clearance dominance as key contributors.

“I thought we probably could’ve been five or six goals up at quarter time, there was a cross breeze going across the ground and we just kept kicking to the dumb side,” he said.

“If you don’t tackle well it’s bad footy, if you don’t spoil from behind it’s bad footy, if you don’t kick the ball well it’s bad footy.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of executions from us.

“Tom (Lamb) has had an amazing season, kicked 50 goals, he kicked 1.6 from set shots, I don’t think he’ll do that again.

“Doveton’s pressure was terrific, we allowed them to take 101 marks which is ridiculous in terms of how the side’s I coach like to play.

“The alarm bells were there early, they took 25 in the first quarter – we addressed it in the second, cut it down to 15 and played the game on our terms in the second.

“But I think the last quarter it went out to 36 marks and they got us in clearances; by then we should’ve had some scoreboard pressure but bad kicking didn’t allow us to make other mistakes and get away with it.”

Tom Lamb was among many Vampires who didn’t have their kicking boots on.

It was an extraordinary turnaround for the Doves, who spun a 92-point thrashing in Round 3, to a tremendous triumph in Round 11.

Jewell said the heat Doveton brought was the best he had seen this year and he looks forward to reviewing it with his group.

“If you get away with a win, you probably overlook a few things,” he said.

“I was thinking about it this morning, it’s the first time this year that we have really had pressure around the ball for four quarters without putting a burst of six, seven, eight, nine goals on,” he said.

“The game is a lot easier to play when you’re hitting the scoreboard, so it’ll be really good to review it and show the boys what we need to do.

“Their effort was there, I thought their effort was terrific, I could never question their intensity, attack on the ball, the boys were spent when they came off.

“It was lack of execution, really, and well played by Doveton.”

Will Chambers of the Maroons breaks away during Game 3 of the 2019 State of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Wednesday, July 10, 2019. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

Like most, East Brighton made a late dash to the clearance closure on Friday, lodging a transfer for ex-rugby star Will Chambers.

Chambers, who played four matches at St Kilda City this season, will finish his year at Hurlingham Reserve.

“Will lives around the corner, he popped down the other night and didn’t have his gear, I said ‘go get your gear’, so he walked home and grabbed his boots,” Jewell said.

“He said he was going to come down at the start of the year but he went to St Kilda City with a few mates, I think they’ve since left so he wandered in.

“It’s great to have an ex-professional athlete around the club, I will certainly get him to take some tackling drills.”

Shannon Henwood, Jake Basa, Sam Muirhead, Jake Ingaliso, Jack Muirhead and James Gascard were all among the Doves’ best.

Cale Love-Linay was the best for the Vampires.

Elsewhere, Murrumbeena had off a courageous Caulfield Bears outfit, 9.7 (61) to 8.8 (56).

Lucas Cloke booted three and was named best afield for the Beena while Adam Ballard was the Bears’ best.

Black Rock made Highett work for the four points, pushing the Bulldogs for a half in their eventual 10.13 (73) to 6.6 (42) win.

Joel Jones (three goals) and Josh Murphy (four) were impressive for Highett, while Jack McPhee and Stuart Wines were good for the Jets.

Hampton Park defeated East Malvern in low scoring affair, 7.12 (54) to 2.12 (24).

The Panthers had 1.9 to half time while the Redbacks had 3.5