Northern Bullants coach Brodie Holland sees plenty of positives in VFL Round 1 defeat

Brodie Holland said his Northern Bullants team may have been the most inexperienced in VFL history and so is taking plenty of positives from a tough Round 1 loss to Richmond.

The scoreboard doesn’t tell the complete story of Northern Bullants’ VFL Round 1 loss to Richmond.

The Tigers ambushed the Ants in the first quarter, charging out to a 36-point lead, and extended it to 50 points early in the second.

However, once it found its feet, Brodie Holland’s team more than held its own against a side chock full of AFL-listed talent.

In the end it was a 47-point defeat at Punt Road with the Bullants kicking seven goals to six after halftime.

“We were probably the most inexperienced VFL team of all time just about,” Holland said in review of the match.

Nathan Honey in action for Northern Bullants. Picture: Nathan McNeill

“We were probably a bit overawed early, we had 10 first-gamers and 14 players that had played five games or less.

“We made some silly unforced errors under the heat of everything – you’re not just playing a standard VFL game, you’re playing the first game of the year, your first VFL game ever, a TV game and on a ground next to the MCG.

“Richmond put a heap of heat on us early and it took us a while to pick up the speed of the game but once we did we were right in it.”

There were plenty of positives from the match.

The Bullants had more disposals, more clearances and more marks than their rivals but have work to do in tackling.

In just his second VFL game, Tyson Young was the leading disposal-winner on the ground with 33 touches as well as eight marks.

Experienced Ant Jean-Luc Velissaris was next best with 31 possessions and eight marks, while Perry Lewis-Smith was the leading tackler with seven.

“(The statistics) was great, the clearances they won were cleaner than ours so we’ve got to work on that,” Holland said.

Northern Bullants coach Brodie Holland.

“That’s been a strength in the pre-season to get the ball going our way from clearance and we’ve got some good players that can find the footy.

“We’ve got to work on execution and a few structural things and we had little lapses in concentration.

“Tyson had a sniff of VFL but he’s still only 24 or 25, a 6’4 big-bodied midfielder and can play at both ends.

“He had some execution things to clean up but to get 30-odd disposals in your first game was a pretty special moment for him.”

Five players topped 100 fantasy points, Young, Velissaris, co-captain Liam Mackie, Patrick Fairlie and Ethan Mantas.

Holland debuted a couple of 18-year-olds that more than held their own.

Ruckman Finnbar Maley burst onto the scene for Eltham last season in the NFNL, while Paul Pascu captained Calder Cannons in the NAB League last season and only started training with the club a few weeks before Round 1.

“Paul, we’d been chasing him for a while, he went to Perth and came back,” Holland said.

“He’d only been at training for two weeks so was still getting to know some of the guys names.

“There were some really positive signs for him and we think he’s a mid-season draft chance if he can put it all together in the first half of the season.”

Having got the first game under the belt, Holland is confident his team is now knows what is required at the level.

The Bullants have a bye to continuing working on their game before a Round 3 clash against Essendon at Preston City Oval on Sunday, April 9 before a trip to Port Melbourne the following Saturday.

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Holland said more VFL games would ensure rapid improvement in his young team.

“At quarter-time I was a bit surprised, to be so far down, but from what I’d seen during pre-season – even though we were so inexperienced – there were some really good signs,” Holland said.

“I think if we had that game again we’d start a hell of a lot better knowing what to expect.

“The good signs are the things that went wrong are easily fixable and with a little bit of education and more game time I think you’ll see a completely different team.”