Lancefield coach Ash Manning hits out at his side’s fitness after opening round loss to Broadford in RDFL

LANCEFIELD was left sweating on the seriousness of a knee injury to star midfielder Ben Anderson on the weekend after a far from ideal start to its 2015 Riddell District Football League campaign.

RDFL Football: Lancefield V Broadford. Lancefield's Matthew Swindells.

LANCEFIELD was left sweating on the seriousness of a knee injury to star midfielder Ben Anderson on the weekend after a far from ideal start to its 2015 Riddell District Football League campaign.

Anderson went down in the opening quarter of Saturday’s Round 1 clash with Broadford and the day only got worse from there for the Tigers, who went on to lose the season opener they had been favoured to win by 14 points, 13.4 (82) to 10.8 (68).

The home side had stitched together a solid first half, three first-quarter goals from Scott Swindells setting them on their way.

But Broadford could not miss in front of the big sticks, keeping itself in the game by having 10 straight goals on the board to half-time to hold a six-point advantage.

“They were 10.0 at half-time to 8.6. If they had of been 6.4 or something normal we would have been in control of the game. But they weren’t,” new Lancefield coach Ash Manning said.

“They didn’t miss and it kept them in the game. Then they controlled the game for most of the third quarter and set up a bit of a break and we couldn’t reel it in.”

Accuracy was one area Lancefield was beaten in but the bigger difference in the game was fitness.

With multiple Tigers going down with cramp, Manning said his side was simply not fit enough and the attitude towards training had to change.

“They won it because we’re not fit,” he said.

“We don’t train. We’re lucky if we have 15 guys train.

“It’s something we have to change. Some of the local guys have got to buy-in a bit to what we’re trying to do.”

Swindells was shutdown by Broadford’s Adrian Romanyk after quarter-time but was named Lancefield’s best on the back of his blistering start.

Mark Gillman, Brett Pitts and Christopher Barton all impressed through the midfield while Kieran Moran was solid down back.