A depleted Bendigo Bank Cats kick started their premiership defence with a predictably scrappy 44-point loss to Coburg in Saturday’s opening practice match of the season at Skilled Stadium.
The 2-11-23 to 9-13-67 loss was unofficially the team’s second lowest score, but was underscored by a raft of missing players, making it the most inexperienced squad in the team’s history.
VFL coach Leigh Tudor said he was impressed with Adam Donohue and Jeremy Laider, who found much of the football and had the confidence to take on players in their first match of senior football.
“I thought Adam Donohue and Jeremy Laider really read the play well, and showed there’s lots to work with there,” Tudor said.
Dawson Simpson and AFL rookie Shane Mumford worked hard around the ground and pushed back into defence on a number of occasions to take several contested marks.
It may have only been a low-intensity lopsided practice match, but former Sydney midfielder Jonathon Simpkin justified his intentions of enhancing his AFL credentials with a promising performance.
Likewise, last year’s Geelong Falcons captain Sam Stavenuiter showed no ill-effects of the persistent injuries that hampered his preseason by finding much of the football and using his strength around the contests.
Tudor admitted he thought the match could have been a blow out given the stark discrepancy between the two sides on paper.
Geelong, with the most inexperienced side in its eight-year history, took on a Tigers’ side oozing 12 AFL-listed players and many of last year’s grand final squad.
With Liam Bedford the only player from last season’s premiership team to play, the Cats embarked on the challenge without any AFL experience and with 18 players yet to make their VFL debut.
“It was great, we’ve had about 50 guys train with us over the preseason, so we’ve pretty much given the guys who weren’t here last year an opportunity to play against a fairly good Coburg side,” Tudor said.
“It was really good to see how they matched up and a couple of the guys really put their hand up – Stavenuiter and Tom Dewey, who I thought were really good for us.
“Our AFL listed players all got through their first game together against the men, so we were pretty happy with how it all finished.”
The Cats take on Collingwood at Skilled Stadium on Saturday afternoon, where the Cats are expected to field another inexperienced squad.
“The first two practice games are purely just to have a look at the guys we haven’t seen play before, so even next week we’re going to have a pretty different side,” Tudor said.
“The last three practice matches we’ll (use to) pick our squad of 20 VFL players within the next two or three weeks and then once we’ll do that we’ll get into structures and processes and all the like.
“Just at the moment we want to see a few blokes have a run and attack the footy.”
Meanwhile, the VFL last week announced several fixture changes affecting the Cats.
The side’s round seven curtain-raiser clash against Coburg at the MCG has been cancelled and will now be played on Skilled Stadium at 11am on Saturday 17 May.
The side’s round eight match against North Ballarat, originally scheduled for Stawell, will now be moved to AUSTAR Arena on Sunday 25 May at 2pm.
