Close enough is not good enough for North Hobart coach in TSL

It was close but no cigar in round one for North Hobart so the coach wants his Demons smokin’ this week against their TSL arch rival the Tigers.

North Hobart coach Richard Robinson wants a win from his team this week. Picture: JAMES BRESNEHAN

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THEY gave reigning premier North Launceston another almighty fright at UTas Stadium in the opening round of the TSL season last Saturday but North Hobart coach Richard Robinson will not be satisfied until his Demons start turning close calls into victories.

Facing a trip to the Twin Ovals to meet arch rival the Tigers in round two on Saturday, which is almost a sell-out, Robinson said North Hobart must stop short-changing itself going forward, as it did in the 10-point loss to the powerhouse Bombers.

Despite the loss, North looks a winner on paper.

It leads the TSL for total disposals (257), effective kicks (66), total marks (95), marks inside 50 (nine), rebound 50s (24) and hard ball gets (51).

Robinson said that meant little if you don’t put a score on the board.

“We were really good but we didn’t get bang for buck in the first quarter _ we had 11 inside 50s for just the one goal,” he said.

“Against a side like North Launceston, if you can’t capitalise when you have some momentum they’ll hurt you.

“Halfway through the second quarter and all of the third quarter, they dominated most of the game.

“We hung in there but we left ourselves too much to do with a quarter to go.”

North Hobart will apply the lessons learned against North Launceston this week.

“The challenge is to not just think we can turn up and expect that last week’s performance will automatically correlate to a good performance this week,” Robinson said.

“We need to make sure we crack in on the track this week and set themselves for a massive game against the Tigers.”