Bellarine Football League premiership favourite Torquay proved too good for Ocean Grove in round one at Ray Menzies Oval on Saturday.
The Tigers kept Ocean Grove goalless in the first half although the Grubbers’ defence battled on and managed to restrict Torquay to nine goals for the game. Final scores Torquay 9.11(65) defeated Ocean Grove 3.8(26).
Ocean Grove coach Pete Davey paid tribute to Torquay’s strong showing and said he was disappointed that his side didn’t put up a better performance for its supporters.
“There were some positives by way of individual performances by a few of our new recruits in Jayden McHenry and Josh Horton while first gamer Campbell Snookes also showed some really good composure in patches,” he said.
“As a whole though, we had too many players who just didn’t impact the contest and when you base your game on team football, we need more than just a handful contributing.”
Henry and Horton were Ocean Grove’s best players while 17-year-old debutante Snookes impressed after a strong preseason.
Torquay led by 30 points at half time and then 38 at the last break, before holding on to a 39-point win.
“We spoke after the game about our style of football and how we erred from that today,” Davey said after the game.
“Credit to Torquay, they were able to control the tempo for lengthy periods by denying us possession of the footy but our defence through the middle of the ground was probably as bad as I have seen it in my time at the club.
“We know that they are a side who only needs a metre of separation to be dangerous and we consistently gave them five metres through poor manning up.
“It’s certainly something that we will address and highlight during the week when we review some vision.”
Ocean Grove emerged unscathed on the injury front and will meet Anglesea on Saturday April 9.
The two sides met in last year’s elimination final where Ocean Grove was triumphant.
Anglesea was thrashed by 83 points by Modewarre on Saturday.
“We’re certainly disappointed but the sun comes up tomorrow and we’ll right this wrong by having a strong week on the track and making amends at Anglesea,” Davey said.
“We’ll review this game as we always do to see what we can learn and how we can improve.”
