July 22, 2007
From Sunday Tasmanian
Reported by Adam Smith
Reported by Adam Smith
THE Devils produced one of their worst performances for the year at Bellerive Oval yesterday, ending up on the end of a 79-point hiding at the hands of Frankston.
It was a far cry from the performance last weekend, when the side battled hard to register just its second win of the season.
The Dolphins smashed the Devils in every aspect of the game to run out 24.7 (151) to 10.12 (72) victors.
It was the basics which hurt the home side the most yesterday, with simple skills errors proving costly.
Time after time in the first half players failed to hit targets, turned the ball over and the decision-making under pressure was poor.
Despite this, the Devils trailed by only 15 points at the main break, but a nine-goal-to-one third term killed off the game as a contest.
Coach Daryn Cresswell was fuming with his players after the match, keeping them behind closed doors for nearly 20 minutes and giving them a huge tongue-lashing.
And he admitted a few of the group may have got ahead of themselves after last week's win.
"It was very disappointing. All the things we did well last week weren't there today," Cresswell said.
"We have been making silly little errors all year and our turnovers cost us goals.
"In the third quarter our accountability, courage to run, all the basic things we have been working on went out the window.
"We played Bendigo with 15-16 AFL-listed guys. Werribee and Geelong were the same and with Frankston as a stand-alone club, on talent you would think they have a similar path as our side.
"Our guys maybe got ahead of themselves and thought they could turn up and win."
For all the ball the Devils won around the ground, they constantly butchered it up forward -- where there was no cohesion inside the 50m.
This was in stark contrast to the Dolphins, who had multiple avenues to goal with Ricky Morris (five goals), big man Brett Dore (five) and half-forward Marcus Marigliani (six) kicking 16 between them.
Brodie Moles was a shining light in a dismal day for the Devils, collecting 21 possessions and booting two goals.
Lachlan Hansen worked hard all day and pulled in 15 marks up forward but Adam Derbyshire struggled with his kicking to finish with 1.3.
"We have got no one who can mark the ball inside our 50m. They want it served on a silver platter with cream," Cresswell said.
"They rely on precise kicks . . . and at the end of day we haven't got the skill level to actually kick the ball to our own teammates' advantage."
