MOAMA football coach Luke Eldridge believed his new look side would come together in 2019.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
But he admits he didn’t think it would happen so quickly.
‘‘I’ve been surprised a bit by some of our young lads,’’ he said.
‘‘They’ve developed a hell of a lot in this pre-season. I’ve been really impressed with the depth of our young guys who are coming from under 17s up, some of them are outright senior players already and I’m really impressed by that.’’
The Magpies showed their continued growth in Saturday’s practice match against Heathcote and District Football League side Mount Pleasant at Jack Eddy Oval.
In Moama’s second hit out of the pre-season, Eldridge looked to provide his new young guns with a run.
‘‘We’ve been trying to get as much game time into our young players as we can across these two hit outs,’’ he said.
‘‘We have 12 different guys coming in this year, so it’s a matter of getting everyone on the same page and playing to the same game plan.’’
The Magpies were slightly undermanned, with six senior players missing from the match.
Heading into their final hit out on Friday night, under lights at Cohuna, Eldridge said his side would have to look at their intensity.
‘‘One of the things we talked about is how we are being led to the footy in contested times,’’ he said.
‘‘They had a more experienced midfield, but it’s now something we can look at in getting to the ball quicker and getting first hands and steadying up a bit when we do get to it, slowing down and assessing what the options.
‘‘It will be a key for us to limit our wastage of the footy.’’
The Magpies open their Murray Football League season against Tongala on April 6.
11°C