Altona coach Greg Drake refused to let his players off the hook after Saturday’s ugly 6-1 loss to Camberwell in Hockey Victoria’s women’s premier league season-opener at
JK Grant Reserve.
Drake was shocked at the severity of the beating as the Wellers underlined their reputation as finals contenders from the outset. He was most alarmed by the insipid performance of his own team.
The Seagulls lacked cohesion, coughed up possession too easily and neglected defensive responsibilities.
It was the kind of form that was not evident during a “reasonably strong pre-season”, which prompted Drake to feel as though the Seagulls were in a better position than 12 months earlier.
“It was a pretty disappointing first outing,” Drake told Star Weekly. “We had a fairly good couple of practice matches so this was fairly unexpected, but luckily we’ve got 17 rounds to improve.
“Coming up against strong opposition in round one has given us a lot to think about and a lot to review during the week.”
The only positive for the Seagulls was the debut of new recruit Sandy Yeates, who worked hard on the front line and capped her club debut with a goal.
“She performed well,” Drake said. “She’s very mobile and can create something out of nothing.”
Meanwhile, Leah Merrett scored a hat-trick and Tegan Purser fired in a double as Footscray mauled Kew 5-2 at Elgar Park.
In the men’s premier league, Footscray routed Casey 10-3 on the back of five individual goalscorers, including a hat-trick to Oscar Allen and two each to Andrew Monte, Riley Damnics and Kyle Gildea.
Altona won 2-1 over Camberwell after goals to Andrew Scanlon and John Camilleri.
