By Jonty Ralphsmith
A rejuvenated Keysborough has made Hampton Park look second-rate in the Redbacks first game at their 2023 home, Tony Way Recreation Reserve.
The visitors, self-focused and unaware of the conditions that awaited them, dampened club spirit, bruised player ego and raised question marks over the legitimacy of the threat Hampton Park pose.
Chris Smith’s men were unfussed at the prospect of kicking against the gale in the first quarter, going into the first break leading by nine points.
Those were the only two goals scored to that end all day.
Pressure was the blueprint for Keysborough, which laid 26 tackles in the first quarter and absorbed Hampton Park’s surge in the third, keeping the scoreboard at arm’s length.
The foundations were set by the leadership of Anthony Brannan up forward and the run of Aaron Walton.
Also crucial was the aerial competitiveness of Tom Shaw and Josh Mourant against an already short Hampton Park team missing ruck Jye King to injury.
But the Burra wasn’t Hampton Park’s only opponent on Sunday.
The Redbacks ball handling and fundamentals proved a hurdle unto their own pursuit of victory.
Where Keysborough adapted to the conditions instinctively, Hampton Park fumbled, missed kicks and through poor skill, communication and decision-making, didn’t adhere to the ball movement process.
“We will focus a lot more on groundball and contest work at training,” said coach Hayden Stanton.
“We probably thought we have been good in that area and haven’t been beaten apart from East Brighton until (Saturday) and it highlighted that some of our young players aren’t ready enough to play week in, week out, in those inside roles.
“We’re not a team that can’t be somewhere near our best each week and expect to win.”
After withholding Hampton Park in the first quarter, Keysborough kicked five in the second, including three in a two minute patch where Hampton Park didn’t get a possession.
Like powerplay fielding restrictions in the cricket, the 6-6-6 rule prevented Hampton Park from swarming defensive 50 for that period which is ultimately when the game got away from them
Brenton Wells’ and Ethan Bakes’ explosiveness was crucial in that period, with Brannan and Shaw kicking the goals.
When coach Hayden Stanton does the best and fairest votes for the game, he should give the five, four, three, two and one to son, Tanner, who ought not be sledged by teammates for preferential treatment.
The former VFL footballer ran both ways harder than his teammates and was the only Spider with the skill execution and game awareness to change lanes when moving the ball.
The Redbacks kicked four goals to zero in the third quarter, including a Declan Brunnell stunner from the boundary line against the wind to go into the last break 15 points down.
Realistically, they needed a 10-goal third quarter.
Keysborough did enough in the last stanza, stretching the final margin to 35 points as Hampton Park finished with 17 men on the field.
Multiple Hampton Park people said it is the meekest Hampton Park performance they’ve seen in their time with the club.
The injuries may not be serious, but the egos are certainly bruised, spirits have been dampened and the reputation as a genuine challenger is in question.
SPIDERS DON’T BRING STING
In preseason, Stanton put a faster, more edgy game plan in place where they could run teams into the ground.
Last Thursday and Friday, volunteers did lots of heavy-lifting to transport canteen and bar goods, tables, chairs and more practical equipment to the venue.
There has been much frustration by many about the repeated delays of playing home games, but if Saturday is anything to go by, the Redbacks might be better staying away.
Granted, a bungle with the lights on Thursday night prohibited Hampton Park from training there prior to the first game, but they were familiar with the blowy and wide conditions they would likely face.
It was amplified on Saturday with wind the theme of all local footy matches, but they had months to mentally prepare for what they would face and were maladjusted compared to a team completely unfamiliar with what to expect.
“We’re going to have to fall in love with this joint really quickly,” Stanton said.
“Although the ground suits us, if it is going to blow like this, we’re going to have to get a lot better at using the ball and be better around the hunt because at the moment we’re not giving our forwards any looks at all.
“They rely on the ball coming in quickly and our backs couldn’t cope with the avalanche of ball coming in.”
Keysborough’s coach was unaware of the dimensions, the winning method not put in place until after arriving at the ground on match-day.
Hampton Park rarely looked to change lanes – hardly were they clean enough to give themselves that opportunity.
That they were smashed in the contest was a separate, pressing issue entirely.
When they did look to try something, it tended to result in a turnover.
You could count on one hand the number of times Hampton Park used the clubroom-side wing to attack despite it being the most dangerous route forward.
While Keysborough scored the first two goals against the wind, Hampton Park scored just once all day at that end – Luke O’Brien hitting the post in the last quarter.
A moment symbolic of the match was O’Brien marking 25 out directly in front, then instinctively turning around, clearly apprehensive that his kick would have the legs.
It summed up the wind and Hampton Park’s lack of confidence.
He got the distance, but it was just offline and required the kind of sweet timing Jayden Short delivers when lining up from outside 50.
They didn’t get it beyond halfway in the second quarter, unclean, inefficient and falling into the trap of going down the line, when they did get their hands on it.
Like a magnet, the wind repeatedly sucked the ball out of play, enabling a stoppage where Keysborough were getting first hands to it.
From there, the visitors were able to hit-up short leads and open the ground up to give themselves more scoring shots.
“The ground’s not the issue – the conditions today, we didn’t get after the hunt enough, we got outmuscled around the ball,” Stanton said.
“Loose balls, they were on them, in the contest they were able to take it forward and get territory on us, and our back six didn’t hold up under any high balls and they got momentum on the back of goals and we lost confidence and lost our way.
“Our brand is about shifting the opposition, moving the ball laterally, using our legs, we didn’t want to use our legs, we didn’t have the guts to take the game on when we should’ve and we played safe and we probably won the second half but didn’t win the battle.
“Forget about the size of the ground, the day was about the contested ball and we got smashed in that area.
“We had too many players who had no impact today, at all.
“And they had all their players play well.
“I’m going to try and move forward as if it was an (anomaly) and won’t be a constant.”
The club must hope he’s right – the alternative would suggest a game plan has been implemented for a group which lacks the talent to adhere to its full capacity.
17 MEN
Just as striking as the O’Brien image was Hampton Park having 17 men on the field for the dying seconds of the game.
Trent Downe limped to the bench with a minor hamstring concern despite the hosts having no rotations.
Corey Braden had been yellow carded, Jack Wilson was cautiously rested after halftime ahead of a Dandenong Stingrays game next week and Liam Myatt and Shaun Walsh were nursing niggles.
It was inconsequential to the result but symbolic of everything that went wrong on-field.
SHAW V CARVER
Tom Shaw might be struggling physically, but he did a heck of a job on Saturday.
Having played in defence at times this season and struggling to get the penetration in the kick he once had, Brannan got higher up the ground and allowed Shaw to play as the deepest forward.
He kicked three important goals.
Meanwhile, up the other end, Nathan Carver couldn’t get near it.
The delivery was poor and Andre Spina rose to the challenge of playing on the big fella.
Victory is always the sum of little wins in sport – and the contributions of the respective key forwards was one of many areas the visitors came out on top.
