A lack of personnel has led to Benalla All Blacks suffering its third major loss in as many weeks, almost singlehandedly putting the nail in the coffin of a finals appearance.
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After wins against Whorouly and North Wangaratta in round 10 and 11 looked to resurrect the All Blacks chances of September action, their 64-point loss against Bright on Saturday means the club needs a faultless end to its season, combined with the collapse of other clubs.
Beaten by more than 100 points in its past two matches, Moran said his team again went in undermanned against Bright,
“It wasn’t great,” Moran said.
“And it is tough to play Bright in Bright, regardless of how both teams are going.
“The boys who played, I thought gave a decent effort.
“But it’s still another loss under our belt.”
With most of the play up one end of the field, the All Blacks’ defensive line weathered tough match conditions.
“Our defensive effort, our back six, was phenomenal,” Moran said.
“It was quite demoralising for the backline, when our forward line missed a few.
“They held up extremely well under pressure.”
Paul Creamer was the All Blacks’ most prolific scorer, finishing best afield with three majors.
“Normally (Creamer) plays in defence, but we used him in the midfield,” Moran said.
“In rotation forward he kicked a few.”
But it wasn’t enough to counter the dominance of Bright’s own spearhead Thomas Mullane-Grant, who bagged five goals, to hold his lead as the competition’s leading goal scorer.
Mullane-Grant will be looking to crack the ton this Saturday, as he sits on 95 majors ahead of the round.
Though in a positive for the All Blacks, wingman Kyle Collison celebrated his 50th game for the club, following on from swingman Trent Chapman’s 50th game milestone the previous week.
The All Blacks will have a chance to finish their season in strong form when they return to Friendlies Oval on Saturday to face off against Bonnie Doon, which sits only one rung above on the ladder.
“They got us early in the year,” Moran said.
“We’re looking forward to this game, it’s a winnable game.”
And with finals all but off the cards, Moran was adamant the club would continue to work hard in the final rounds of the season.
“We’ll work on our transition from attack to defence and strengthen it up before Bonnie Doon,” he said.
“We’ll look to keep going as a unit and doing the basics.
“Hopefully that will translate into next year.”
Final score: Benalla All Blacks 4.7 (31) def by Bright 14.11 (95)
Goal: P. Creamer 3, A. Jacka
Best: P. Creamer, N. Spencer, T. Chapman, A. Jacka, J. Ellis, S. Newton
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