Old Collegians coach Nick Sheehan knows momentum swings are hurting his Warriors.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Ladder-leaders Kolora-Noorat was too strong for the third-placed Warriors, claiming a 18.11 (119) to 9.11 (65) victory in a fiery encounter at Noorat Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
Old Collegians has now dropped to fourth behind Merrivale.
The damage was done in the second quarter when the Power booted eight goals to two.
"We were second to the footy," Sheehan said.
"They really went up a gear and that's what good sides do, they take it to that next level."
Sheehan said his team had good patches and poor patches during its past two losses.
"Today when they had the momentum, we had just to hold that and try and swing it back our way or nullify it for three or four minutes and make it a dead rubber," he said.
"Instead of letting them go bang, bang, bang and letting them kick goals."
The Warriors mentor said his team had wanted to bounce back after a shock loss to South Rovers last week.
"We had to respond from getting beaten last week and be harder at the footy and more physical," he said.
"The first quarter was good."
The Warriors took an injury list away from the match.
Michael Darmody sustained a hamstring injury and Tom Lambevski injured his ankle again.
Sheehan, a playing coach, pulled out prior to the match with a groin injury he has had for the past fortnight.
Power playing coach Ben Walsh didn't escape injury either.
There was a big melee in the opening seconds of the match.
Walsh received a free-kick from it and got up rattled.
He sustained a knock behind his left knee and was soon out of the game.
"I just got a pretty big knock on the back of the leg and it just blew up a bit once I had a bit of a spell," he said.
Walsh said the injury wasn't too serious.
The Power mentor said his side came prepared for a tough match.
"We knew they would come out pretty hard, which they did," he said.
"We were prepared for that.
"I thought we handled it really well, the first 10 to 15 minutes it was pretty full-on.
"I thought we matched them with that intent and did really well putting our head over the footy."
Walsh said his team took control of the game in the second quarter.
"Looking at our stats, we really got on top in the middle with our contested ball," he said.
"And when we do that, we know that we can move the ball pretty well."
Walsh was proud of his youngsters.
"I think we had eight or nine kids, 20 years old or under today," he said.
"For them to play like that and stand up under pressure, that's what it's like in big games.
"It gives us a bit of confidence that we can handle that."
It was a heated match from the outset with melees throughout.
The umpires handed out numerous cards to players.
Neither team scored much in the final quarter but there was a huge melee on the boundary line near the benches, midway through the quarter.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
