Sydney Uni have put together another dominant performance to place themselves back into the winners circle in Round 9. The Students showed resilience, bouncing back from their first loss of the season with a resounding 126-55 victory over the visiting Canberra Demons.
The Demons were in the contest early, holding the lead midway through the first quarter. However, as soon as the Students switched on, they took complete control of the game. Showing off their ability to score heavily and quickly, the Students piled on scoreboard pressure to extend their lead substantially at every break. Sydney Uni signalled their intent around the footy, leading the possession count and stifling Canberra’s attack to hold the visiting side to just 8 goals for the match.
Although the Students are having their best ever start to a season, complacency is not a word in their vocabulary. In a bid to grow as the season progresses, they remain focused on continuing to improve each week.
Head Coach Tom Morrison was pleased with his group’s ability to learn from previous games, especially their loss in Round 8. “As a group, we are not afraid to search for the honest answers in review and it was no different last week after our first loss. We identified some key areas that needed improvement and trained these throughout the week,” Morrison said.
“To the groups credit they delivered in these areas on Saturday and we will look to add more layers to our game as we head into a very challenging block of games, starting this week.”
Sydney Uni Captain Lewis Stevenson added, “As a team, obviously we were really disappointed with our effort against the Swans the week before and we were keen to improve heading into the Canberra game.”
“Balance at the stoppage and handball efficiency, were two areas which we highlighted in the review and we felt that the boys addressed them well.”
Whilst there were many areas of improvement, there are still some aspects Sydney Uni will be looking to tighten up. Morrison added, “We controlled a large majority of the play but used the ball poorly, especially our last kick inside our forward 50. We missed a lot of opportunities as a result of this and to Canberra’s credit they were able to score against us on the turnover and exploit our lack of cover behind the ball.”
There were some great individual performances in the match. Stevenson was outstanding, effectively leading from the front with 42 disposals, 14 clearances and 1 goal. “He covered the ground well spreading hard from contests,” Morrison said.
“Tim Barrett continued his terrific return from a long term injury lay off with another strong performance highlighted by his defensive pressure. This created repeat forward entries and multiple scoring opportunities.”
“Callum McFadden, Will Sierakowski, Jack Hiscox and Tom Ayton were all effective in both offence and defence and Darcy Baron-Hay is yet to be beaten by an opponent this season.”
The Students will be looking to build on their form as they head into this weekend’s matchup against a tough and athletic Northern Territory side.
“We will need to deliver again this week with the contested aspects of our game but address our high turnover numbers if we are to limit the Thunder’s counter attack scoring options as this is a strength of their play.”
Stevenson reiterated his coach’s sentiments saying, “We know we’ll need to be better in transition against NT who are always a tough challenge up in Darwin.”
Next Up
Sydney Uni will head up to TIO Stadium, in Darwin, to take on the NT Thunder. The game will kick-off at 6:30pm on Saturday 3rd June.
Click here for the livestream: http://neafl.com.au/live-streaming/
Sydney Uni: 4.5 8.8 12.15 17.24 (126)
Canberra: 3.2 4.5 5.7 8.7
Goals
Sydney Uni: X. Richards 2, D. Bonney 2, J. Hiscox 2, M. Manteit 2, T. Barrett 2, J. Law, J. Derickx, N. Reinhard, S. Tagliabue, W. Sierakowski, J. Potter, L. Stevenson
Canberra: T. Faul 2, J. Turner, I. Taylor, S. Martyn, M. Maguire, W. Muir, J. Harper
Best
Sydney Uni: T. Barton, L. Stevenson, C. McFadden, T. Ayton, W. Sierakowski
Canberra: J. Harper, B. Halse, J. Turner, L. Meline, S. Martyn