A GRACIOUS Southport coach Steve Daniel was happy to concede his Sharks simply were beaten by the better team in Sunday’s 32-point Smithy’s VFL Grand Final loss to Casey Demons at Ikon Park.
Southport was desperate to get a good start in the Grand Final after conceding the first eight goals of its previous clash against Casey in Round 7 and it achieved that aim despite not being as far in front as it possibly should have been at the first break.
And when the Demons changed gears, they ground the Sharks down, holding them goalless for an hour from late in the first quarter until late in the third.
“It was really important for us to get a good start because obviously the last time we played Casey they kicked eight goals to really blow the game apart and we just couldn’t bridge that gap,” Daniel told Sharks Media on Monday.
“We wanted to be in the game at quarter-time and we were on the weekend so I was pretty happy with that, (but in the) second quarter I felt Casey turned it up a little bit, their heat around the ball was really good and we battled a little bit, we were under siege but we hung tough and I thought at half-time we were a real chance.
“But then in the third quarter they got out to that three-goal lead and we just couldn’t peg them back.
“We just couldn’t get any free footy from the stoppage, they were just too good around there - the conditions didn’t help so we were just trying to equalise around the ground.”
Daniel said Southport changed tact at three quarter-time when it was trailing by 15 points, taking the risk of being blown away in a bid to win the game.
“We just tried to bring our forwards back a little bit, we tried a few things tactically to basically go for broke,” he said.
“We thought we might open ourselves up a little bit, we spoke in the box that we were either going to pinch this game, which we had to, or it might blow out a little bit.
“It didn’t blow out that much, in the end it was five goals, but we just weren’t good enough – they were the best team all year and they were the best team yesterday, but we gave it our best.
Daniel said ruckman Brayden Crossley was outstanding again for the Sharks, marvelling at how he had stepped up in the last third of the season, and revealed the ruckman had finished the game with a broken nose.
But apart from a few others, they just couldn’t find enough contributors in difficult conditions to go with a Demons’ team that plays and trains in wind and rain regularly at Casey Fields.
"He was outstanding, he’s just been great ever since big (Fraser) Thurlow went down and he played a magnificent role for us, he’s been outstanding, instrumental,” Daniel said.
“We just didn’t have enough contributors on the day and we spoke about that before the game – everyone had to contribute and play their role and unfortunately a lot of the boys just couldn’t get themselves into the game yesterday.
“(The weather) impacted the game a little bit but they had to play in it as well and I thought they played a little bit better in the conditions than we did and that’s just the calibre of their team.
“They’re very clean and very efficient and they structure up really well – they’re a class outfit.”
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL
SMITHY’S VFL GRAND FINAL
CASEY DEMONS
2.2 4.5 6.8 10.10 70
SOUTHPORT
3.3 3.5 4.5 5.8 38
Goals: CASEY DEMONS: J. Melksham 4, M. Brown 2, T. Bedford, B. Laurie, J. Munro, T. Woewodin. SOUTHPORT: J. Townsend 2, M. Johnson, R. King, M. Pescud.
Best: CASEY DEMONS: M. White (Norm Goss Medal), J. Munro, J. Melksham, K. Chandler, A. Tomlinson, O. Baker, L. Dunstan, S. Weideman. SOUTHPORT: B. Woodcock, B. Crossley, K. Boakye, J. Joyce, R. Clark.
+20 Disposals: CASEY DEMONS: L. Dunstan 31, M. White 29, O. Baker 25, K. Chandler 23, J. Munro 21. SOUTHPORT: B. Woodcock 32, J. Joyce 22, K. Boakye 20, J. Dawson 19, R. Clark 18.
Marks: CASEY DEMONS: K. Chandler 8, J. Melksham, M. Brown 6. SOUTHPORT: M. Willis 4.
Hitouts: CASEY DEMONS: S. Weideman 35. SOUTHPORT: B. Crossley 45, D. Charlesworth 11.
Clearances: CASEY DEMONS: L. Dunstan, M. White 8, J. McVee, S. Weideman 6. SOUTHPORT: B. Woodcock 10, J. Joyce 7.
Tackles: CASEY DEMONS: J. Munro 17, M. White 13, L. Dunstan 9, K. Chandler, T. Bedford 7, A. Quigley, C. Ellison 6. SOUTHPORT: B. Crossley 15, J. Joyce 13, M. Manteit 10, J. Heron, B. Woodcock 8, Z. Foot 7, R. King 6.
Inside-50s: CASEY DEMONS: L. Dunstan, M. White 8. SOUTHPORT: B. Woodcock 6, Z. Foot 5.
Rebound-50s: CASEY DEMONS: A. Tomlinson 12. SOUTHPORT: R. Clark 8, R. Davis, B. Woodcock 5.
Team stats: Disposals: CAS 308-295; Kicks: CAS 225-195; Handballs: SOU 100-83. Marks: CAS 63-48. Tackles: SOU 113-103. Inside-50s: CAS 55-46. Hitouts: SOU 57-41. Clearances: CAS 52-45. Free Kicks: CAS 27-22.
Crowd: 5000 estimate at Ikon Park
NORM GOSS MEDAL
Campbell Brown (Channel 7)
3 Mitch White (Cas)
2 Kade Chandler (Cas)
1 Jimmy Munro (Cas)
Danny Ryan (Frankston coach)
3 Mitch White (Cas)
2 Boyd Woodcock (Sou)
1 Jake Melksham (Cas)
Brendan Rhodes (vfl.com.au, Cluch TV)
3 Mitch White (Cas)
2 Jimmy Munro (Cas)
1 Jake Melksham (Cas)
Jennie Loughnan (AFL)
3 Mitch White (Cas)
2 Jimmy Munro (Cas)
1 Kade Chandler (Cas)
LEADERBOARD
12 Mitch White (Cas)
5 Jimmy Munro (Cas)
3 Kade Chandler (Cas)
2 Jake Melksham (Cas)
2 Boyd Woodcock (Sou)
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