Loss, but Hills make finals

By Justin Robertson
ENDEAVOUR HILLS have limped into this year’s rugby finals series suffering their third consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of a spirited Geelong outfit.
Despite starting the better of the two teams and holding a 12-0 lead just before half time, the Hills were outplayed in the latter half of the match and were pipped 20-19 at Frog Hollows Reserve on Saturday.
Hills coach Archie Kennedy remained upbeat about the loss and said his side’s second position on the ladder was never in doubt heading into finals.
“They (Geelong) had a lot more to play for than we did, they needed to win to make the finals where as we had already sewn up second place,” he said. “It’s not ideal to lose before finals, but I’m confident we can turn things around this week against Footscray.”
The string of three losses have been against the top four teams – Geelong, Wyndham City and Footscray – but Kennedy said he was confident his team could turn around their recent indifferent form and were serious contenders for this year’s flag.
“Look, we played some good footy on the weekend, but some simple errors cost us in the second half going into the wind – errors we haven’t been making all year,” he said. “If we can get back to the form we were in during the year, I think we’ll push Footscray for sure.”
With a strong breeze at their back, the Hills took control and took a 12-3 lead into the half-time break and looked like blowing the game away. But to Geelong’s credit they pegged back the margin and used the wind better than the Hills forcing them to turn the ball over and make unusual mistakes.
“We had no penetration in the second half and found it tough to break the lines into the wind,” Kennedy said. “We have to be more disciplined and learn not to over commit – that’s where they hurt us.”
With the last three games a distant memory now, Kennedy has his sights firmly set on this weekend against a hard-running and undefeated Footscray team.
“It should be a cracking game at Footscray, we have what is needed to beat them but we are expecting a rough encounter,” he said. “We just need to be disciplined and I think if we do that I think we’ll go close to beating them.”