By Jonty Ralphsmith
Coach Chris Smith said it was like walking into a new club last week.
The bye acted as a reset for a club battered by turmoil in the first half of the season through no fault of its own.
Optimism of reaching finals evaporated as football seemed unimportant in the broader context of player welfare following the Jojo Ofosu-Amaah cardiac arrest.
The sole win recorded prior to the King’s Birthday weekend, over the struggling Black Rock, didn’t do justice to the quality of the list.
Alas, in an outcome-predicated industry, change needed to ensue, and that meant blooding some youngsters.
The absence of egos allowed them to take it right up to East Brighton before the break, and the Burra was able to carry that into the game against Hampton Park.
“It felt mentally different so hopefully it is different now,” said Smith post-game.
“The pressure (in the first quarter) was huge.
“We outlined that on days like this and with teams like Hampton Park, if you let them run, they cut you to pieces.
“It was far and away our best performance of the season.
“We talked in the lead up about the fact that nothing is going to change unless we start playing the way we want, and players are following instruction, and they did it.
“We really needed the reset…it’s been different around the club and hopefully we can build on this.
“We just want to start stringing some games together, keep developing some players and keep them in the side.
“We have shot ourselves in the foot only winning one game up until now so the expectation is gone from here but now we can develop and hopefully ruin some years along the way.”
Just seven men have played every game this season.
But the 22 that took the field on Saturday enabled Keysborough’s first social function of the year to be off the back of some on-field success.
It was a spirit-lifter in a down year, with some green shoots not only getting exposure but warranting retention in the senior side and establishing reputations at the level.
Keysborough set the tone with the only two goals of the first quarter despite kicking against a massive breeze, with the 26 tackles laid symptomatic of the pressure.
Using the wind in the second quarter, they then put scoreboard pressure on to go in to the main break 43-point leaders – a lead which proved insurmountable.
Hampton Park’s only four goals of the game came with the wind in the third quarter.
None were off the boot of usual goalkicker Nathan Carver, with meteoric riser Andre Spina keeping him quiet.
Anthony Brannan’s leadership up forward allowed Tom Shaw to kick three, Aaron Walton’s run and creativity on the outside and Ethan Bates’ liveliness were all important ingredients.
“You can’t be kicking into the wind, you need to be chipping and using your hands (which we did),” Smith said.
“In the third quarter, we didn’t even want a goal and that’s why they kicked the four in the third because we were hellbent on not conceding more.
“And they followed every instruction.
“We had contest after contest and we were able to get it done.”
