Hopes were high on Saturday as Brunswick NOBSPC faced an inexperienced Whitefriars outfit in old fashioned wet weather conditions at Gillon Oval, but they were dashed by yet another final quarter fade-out that leaves us precariously placed at 2 and 7 at the season’s half-way mark.

With game in the balance at three-quarter time it was the young Friars who took the initiative with early goals via superior ball use and pace, and we couldn’t respond.

Despite the disappointment of the outcome, the fact was we dominated large parts of the game and had quite a few good contributors, led by Todd Cleary, Gerrard Bence and Kyle Docherty. Unfortunately our two biggest problems this season struck again as we failed to take our chances – especially some gilt-edged ones in the third quarter – and to play out 120 minutes.

Goals were difficult to come by on the day, especially early, and we were missing crumbing forwards Adams and Kelly to capitalise on our numerous inside-50 entries. Painfully, at the other end some coach-killers gifted a number of goals, including a “Gubby Allen” pass to the goal square, a badly disguised deliberate out-of-bounds, more goals from free kicks and a 25m penalty for back-chat to make a certainty of the match-sealer in the last term.

The Queen’s Birthday break has come at a good time, giving us the chance to regroup and work on our major problem areas. The good news is we still have half the season to pick ourselves up and make an impact on Division 1 in 2016.