By Tyler Lewis
Rowville suffered its first blemish of the 2022 season on Saturday, when it was upset by Doncaster.
The Hawks were beaten at its own game for the first three quarters, eventually going down 7.9 (51) to 10.10 (70).
Coach Ben Wise hopes his side can learn from the loss.
“I think it was a great learning curve for us,” he said.
“Especially as a young group – as we are still – we have done really well to get to where we are, but it just shows you can’t take the foot off the pedal at all.
“It doesn’t matter who you play in this comp, if you’re 20 per cent off and they’re on their game, it’s a great leveller mindset and intensity.
“It’s a bit frustrating, but I just hope it is a one off and we can move on pretty quickly from it.”
While the Sharks came off a big loss to Noble Park to defeat his undefeated side, Wise confirmed his side wasn’t complacent.
“Not really, I don’t think they’re complacent, just when you are winning I suppose you’re just not as hard on yourself as you should be like when you’re under the pump,” he said.
“From where we were at the start of the year, backs against the wall and proving everyone wrong, you’re really diligent with your prep and you’re always in the game mentally and you’ve always got a point to prove.
“But when you get to a point where everything is going to happen… you probably don’t mean to do it, but as a collective across the board you might miss this, miss that, and then two people having a bad game turns into six having bad games.
“Sometimes you just put in a stinker, which we did for three quarters.”
Though the term ‘a good loss’ is a common discussion at the moment with AFL untouchable Melbourne stumbling a touch, Wise isn’t a believer of a good loss, but understands its purpose.
“Everyone says a loss is good, I sort of disagree with it, but I understand where people are coming from,” he said.
“You never want to lose a game, but I suppose when you lose a game you dissect it a hell of a lot more than when you win.
“That’s because when you win you’re doing a lot of stuff right, but when you lose, you really knuckle down on why you did lose.
“It’s a tough one, I don’t like losing, regardless of people thinking you need it, but it will reset us a little bit with a bit of a kick up the arse.
“The things we pride ourselves on… I just think for three-quarters they out-worked us, out-spread us and we didn’t adapt quick enough.”
Rowville and the rest of the sides that played on Saturday will have a bye this weekend.
This week marks one of the better weekends on the Eastern Football Netball League EFNL calendar, with Noble Park hosting Balwyn in the stand-alone Queen’s Birthday Saturday clash.
Both sides sit in the 20-point log-jam and to add even further theatre to the match, Bulls legend Shayne Allan will play his 200th game for the club.
In other Premier Division results: Berwick recorded its first win of the season, defeating North Ringwood 11.10 (76) to 6.13 (49), Parch Orchards defeated Doncaster East, 15.6 (96) to 6.7 (43), Blackburn burst past Norwood, 11.12 (78) to 8.5 (53) and South Croydon secured a big win on the road over Vermont, 10.13 (73) to 8.11 (59).
LADDER: Rowville 28, South Croydon 24, Balwyn 20, Noble Park 20, Doncaster East 20, Vermont 20, Blackburn 14, Park Orchards 12, Norwood 12, Doncaster 12, Berwick 6, North Ringwood 0.
TOP-5 GOAL-KICKERS: C Haley (Balwyn) 30, J Wilsen (South Croydon) 24, K Vicars (Doncaster) 23, C Hickey (Park Orchards) 19, J Lisle (Balwyn) 19.
