On a perfect day for football at Gillon Oval one side relished the conditions from the first bounce, attacking the ball and running on top of the ground. The trouble was that team was Prahran Assumption, who dominated Brunswick to such an extent that it took until the 26-minute mark of the third quarter for us to kick our first goal, with a further four goals in the final term adding a modicum of respectability in the end.

It is not unusual for a young and developing team to suffer a letdown after playing competitive footy for a number of weeks, but that doesn’t necessarily excuse the poor effort displayed on Saturday. The game could have been over in the first quarter had Prahran capitalised on an extraordinary number of forward entries. Our defence battled hard, led by skipper Danny King, but we rarely got the ball past halfway.

In the second quarter, the floodgates opened as Prahran found their range and at halftime we were looking down the barrel of one of our worst losses in recent memory. To the credit of the players, that did not eventuate, but it was still a stark reminder of the level of effort that needs to be brought week-in-week-out.

Better players were hard to find, as our major ball-winners also tended to rack up the clangers. The classy and consistent Nick Burgin again stood out, while Geremie Ganino tried hard to make an impact in the forward-half, along with Dom Sullivan. Ben Wilson battled away in the mid-field, as he has done all year. King, Lewis White and the Whelan brothers (Seamus and Liam) were all stoic in defence.

The Queen’s Birthday weekend break could not have come at a better time as we look to regroup before tackling Therry Penola away.