After three losses to start the season, Northern Districts were hungry as they prepared to head to Hollymount Park in search of their first win on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
However, the Tigers are left to lament a missed chance after all senior AFL South Coast games were cancelled or postponed due to ongoing rain. At this stage, the long-range plan is for the three men's premier fixtures to be postponed until the competition's spare wet-weather weekend in August.
Norths were blown away by the Suns in round one before showing better signs in losses to the Bulldogs and Figtree, and would have viewed Saturday's clash with the Lions as winnable.
"We're disappointed this week because obviously Wollongong's not travelling all that well and we were a bit up and about. But it's a long season, we'll get another couple of cracks," Tigers coach Leigh Forsyth said.
"But we're improving all of the time. I've said to the group 'don't worry about the wins, let's just worry about a bit of synergy with the group'. It's about getting to know each other and stick to a simple game plan."
Despite their heavy round-one defeat, Forsyth said he had been happy with the side's effort this season.
"We didn't get off to a good start because our coaching staff was pretty much unavailable, we all had different things on. So we sort of went downhill from there and obviously Shellharbour has improved and recruited well. We didn't turn up by all accounts," Forsyth said.
"But the positive thing is we've got an extremely young list. They're all kids, with the exception of three or four experienced campaigners. We're really pleased with the way they're developing and they're all new. It's not like Kiama, who have played together for a few years.
"They're a bit more daring than they have been in the past too, as a young group. We encourage them that it doesn't matter if they're making mistakes, just get out there and have a crack. Our coaching staff is really confident that if we keep doing what we're doing, sooner or later it will click and we'll hopefully get some results. So they're not frustrated or anything like that, they understand where we're at."
Subscribe to our newsletters
Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
