Berwick Miners quarterback Sam Walker sneaks behind the offensive line to score his team’s sole touchdown against the Croydon Rangers in Frankston on Sunday.By Marc McGowan
POOR attitude and application from half a dozen players have been blamed on the Berwick Miners’ 15-6 defeat to premiership fancy Croydon in Frankston on Sunday.
Miners’ coach Darren Shaw revealed that several of the players in question apologised to their teammates after the match.
“A few players turned up late and didn’t have their minds in the right place,” he said.
“They were on time for the actual game, but not the pre-game warm-up and the players’ attitude to training hasn’t improved.”
Both teams entered the round-three clash undefeated and endured a scoreless opening quarter as they tested one another out.
Croydon grabbed the lead when the Miners missed a tackle, allowing the Rangers to run in the opening score.
They went further ahead after half-time, breaking out to a 15-0 advantage before Berwick finally pegged the score back.
Miners quarterback Sam Walker – who had an up-and-down day – ran in Berwick’s touchdown, continuing his side’s impressive afternoon on the ground.
Regular safety Scott Sunderland helped cover for starting running back Shahid Malimar’s ongoing absence to be the Miners’ standout offensive performer.
But Berwick was unable to score again, leaving the Miners with a win, a draw and a loss in 2008.
Shaw believes his team should have won.
“Two mistakes on defence cost us two touchdowns and probably a myriad of errors on offence probably cost us two touchdowns as well, so that’s the disappointing thing,” he said.
“We were in a position to win against one of the sides everyone is touting as a fair chance to take the premiership this year.
“The rest of the competition is discounting everyone but the (Nunawading) Warriors and the Croydon Rangers and we should have beaten the Rangers, so we’ve certainly sent a message that it’s more than a two-team league.”
Berwick locks horns with the Warriors at Sydney Pargeter Reserve from 10.30am on Sunday.
