{"id":119595,"date":"2022-10-30T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T02:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/?p=119595"},"modified":"2022-10-30T12:00:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T02:00:33","slug":"starcevich-praises-troops-but-still-finds-room-for-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2022\/10\/30\/starcevich-praises-troops-but-still-finds-room-for-improvement\/","title":{"rendered":"Starcevich praises troops, but still finds room for improvement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

REFLECTING on the season at large after his side\u2019s win against Collingwood, Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich<\/em><\/strong> was happy with where his team is at, but is still on the hunt for ways for the all-conquering Lions can improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve won nine games in a home and away season, so that\u2019s a bit of a milestone for our crew,” Starcevich said post-match. “We\u2019ve played some decent opposition in the last month and [have] been able to find a way to win. They obviously like playing at this venue… it\u2019s been very, very pleasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s still things we need to keep improving. We probably left a few scoring chances on the table tonight, but you can\u2019t fault the effort and endeavour. It\u2019s been a warm day here as we know, just energy wise we were a fraction off but we\u2019re getting picky now, they\u2019ve been good.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starcevich praised his side\u2019s defensive pressure right across the ground, which made life for his defenders a lot easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight across the ground that\u2019s one of our hallmarks of when we\u2019re going okay, our pressure\u2019s nice and high,” he said. “It was high for the whole night which was great and you\u2019re sort of asking the opposition to go with you with that and if they can\u2019t there\u2019s your opportunity to go forward and score. That\u2019s the way we roll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Depending on what\u2019s going on up the ground, it makes life for our defenders a lot easier if there\u2019s pressure on the ball coming in. That was the case a lot of the time tonight for Nat<\/a> (Grider), Bre<\/a> (Koenen) and ‘Lutsy<\/a>‘ (Kate Lutkins) who took some nice intercept marks. Good to see her sort of back to how we know Luts plays, but those sort of players life\u2019s a lot easier if there\u2019s pressure on the ball up the field.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another player who drew praise from their coach was Courtney Hodder<\/a>, who was again lively in front of goal on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were just talking about her in the post-game with the players actually,” Starcevich said. “Her method doesn\u2019t change too much week in and week out. She\u2019s busy and dynamic, and she\u2019s always providing pressure at ground level in your front 50 which is great. Sometimes she\u2019ll end up with the ball in her hands and be able to have a ping at goal and other times she won\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Last week I think she had two offensive possessions and 20 pressure acts, and tonight it was 12 and 20 and two goals, so that\u2019s the fine margin that she lives in but her actual method and approach doesn\u2019t change too much week in week out, and that helps everyone else in that part of the ground function well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking before the events at Casey Fields yesterday, Starcevich talked about the battle for top spot, how the group was feeling and how they were looking ahead to the finals starting next week and how they were going to prepare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Obviously if Melbourne want to close the gap on the percentage we\u2019ve added to tonight they\u2019re going to have to have a pretty significant win and probably keep the opposition to a very low score, so it\u2019s something that\u2019s out of our control so we sit back and watch,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s been a few seasons like this actually. I remember season five when we ended up winning the whole lot we had to wait and see where we were going to land after the home and away series, but all those things are out of your control, it\u2019s a bit nerve wracking but hopefully playing Friday night means we can have the weekend off to recharge and get stuck into next week and play whoever we need to play, but we\u2019ve earned the right to host a couple of finals so looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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