The scoreboard made for unpleasant reading for the Western Jets when they went down by 100 points to Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup at Wangaratta on Saturday.
The result alone – the Jets kicked just one goal to the Bushies’ 15 from 33 scoring shots – does not tell the whole story.
The Jets were severely depleted, while the Bushrangers were almost at full strength, so there was likely to be only one outcome.
“Our private school boys were out,” Jets coach Torin Baker told Star Weekly.
“We also lost a number of boys through the week to the Sun Shield semi-finals who were involved with St Pat’s, Essendon Keilor and MacKillop, so they were pretty physical games.
“We were missing about 13 or 14 players who you would say were in your best 25, so we were pretty short in terms of personnel and came up against a good team.
“It was more about competing as much as we can, but that was a pretty tough job.”
Such has been the tale of the season for the Jets. Injuries have piled up and absences have dented their chances in big games.
With three games to go, the Jets remain a mathematical chance of reaching the finals, but they face familiar hurdles when they travel to play the ladder-leading Dandenong Stingrays on Saturday morning, with a number of key players unavailable.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Baker said. “It’s going to be another really strong challenge for us.”
There is a silver lining to every dark cloud – the Jets had the chance on Saturday to blood youngsters Zak Butters and Jack Noonan. And there have also been opportunities to see who could stand tall for the Jets in the face of adversity.
On that front, Nick Stuhldreier, Brodie Romensky, Oscar Junker and Rhys Bradley, did their reputations no harm.
Baker said that against the Bushies, Stuhldreier had played one of his best games for the club.
“He’s a bottom-ager and we’ve had him down for 28 possessions off the half-back and he spent a little bit of time in the midfield,” he said. …
For the record, Tristan Xerri kicked the Jets’ only goal during the third quarter.
