By Ewen McRae
Altona’s stuttering start to its premiership defence continued at the weekend as it went down to Deer Park.
Taking on Deer Park at its indoor home under lights on Friday night, Altona fought hard all game, but was unable to come up with the shots when it counted late.
The 75 (16)-68 (2) defeat means Altona has started the season with two straight losses.
Altona coach Ben Loughlin said it was an improved performance from round one, but the side still had plenty of work to do.
“It pretty much went as we were expecting, in that it was close all night,” he said.
“They just came up with the big shots when they needed to.
“We were reasonably happy with our efforts, and it’s always tough to go there on their artificial surface, where they’ve got a pretty decent home ground advantage. It really could have gone either way and this time it went theirs.
“After winning the flag last year, all the sides are going to be out to hunt you, so realistically we have to be 10 to 15 per cent better than we were last year.
“Everything has to go up a cog now and we really need to lift.”
Skip Dane McKinnon had a good win in his rink (22-14), while Brett Foley played out an epic match with Deer Park’s Brett Mahoney in the final rink of the night, ultimately coming up short (22-16).
With scores all square with five ends to play, it came down to some experience in the conditions. Deer Park used its home rink knowledge to full effect to take crucial shots late to claim the win.
With his side sitting 0-2 to start the summer, Loughlin said the players needed to find the missing ingredients soon if they were going to push for success later in the season.
“We head to Essendon now, which has been a bit of a graveyard for us in recent years, so our backs are firmly against the wall,” he said.
“We’ve got to work out a way to go 1-2 instead of 0-3, because it’s a long way back if you drop the first three games.
“We’ve had a couple of players out the first couple of weeks and you only need to be five per cent off in this competition and you get found out … I think that’s all we are off by.
“I’m quietly confident we can turn things around.”
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