Shoddy Panthers win again
Railways coach Craig Alderdice is proving to be a hard taskmaster, despite his squad's Goldfields Football League victory over Mines Rovers on Sunday.
The Panthers overcame shoddy kicking to record a fourth win by seven points, 6.14 (50) to 5.13 (43), and move within a game of the first-placed Diorites.
But Alderdice was a long way off being satisfied, especially when reflecting on the first term when the side dominated general play but managed only 2.9.
"I thought we played very well and the game should have been over at quarter-time had we kicked straight," he said.
"But to their credit Mines really came back hard in the second quarter, which meant the game became a real struggle.
"I thought our skill level was poor, we fumbled the ball and dropped marks so it wasn't exactly a great standard we set."
With 11 scoring shots to quarter-time, Railways were restricted to 1.3 in the second quarter as Mines Rovers edged within 13 points.
The hard slog continued after half-time, with Railways barely hanging on after being outscored 3.8 to 3.2.
Since a round 4 loss on the siren to Kambalda, Railways have won three straight.
But Alderdice insists there is a lot of work to be done.
"To be honest, in our last two games I think we've gone backwards a little bit," he said.
"It seems to me we're putting in the endeavour and the work rate, but letting ourselves down with poor skills.
"Against Kalgoorlie (in round 6), our skills were very poor - clearly we need to improve in that area and the key now will be devising training drills to simulate game pressure."
Despite perfect conditions, neither team had a multiple goalkicker.
After four consecutive wins to open the season, Mines Rovers have lost two of their past three games.
But with a round 9 bye, the Diorites have a fortnight to regroup.
