Up against top-of-the-ladder Old Camberwell on Saturday at a bitterly cold Gillon Oval, Brunswick again acquitted themselves well, but couldn’t get over the line. Sharp-eyed observers would have recognised some parallels to the week before at St Mary’s, as the NOBs kicked the first two goals of the game, before conceding a critical five in the second quarter and then ending with the last three majors of the game in the final term to go down by around a three-kick margin.

So, the starts and finishes aren’t the problem just at the moment, but what happens in between certainly is. The common theme seems to be that when the opposition dials up the pressure we are prone to committing critical errors and allowing a run of unanswered goals. This week that happened between the late stages of the first term and halftime, when the Wellers slammed on seven-in-a-row. Considering we held them to ten for the day, that was the game, and while we chased valiantly with six goals to three after the main break, we had set ourselves too much of a task.

Kicking with the aid of a strong wind to the Sydney Road end, Brunswick began well, attacking down the Hope Street wing and through the middle as is essential on days like this one. The identity of the early goalkickers in Will Nevill and Chris Gavaghan pointed to a willingness of the coach to throw the magnets around, and with good effect. Their old roles in defence were filled by Lewis White, who was having blinder intercept marking everything, and the returning Jed Carey. Unfortunately, as the quarter progressed, Brunswick lost their way and got sucked into the dead Croquet Club pocket, before eventually coughing up a couple of goals late that would prove crucial to the result.

There is no nice way of describing the second term. It was a shocker and, but for a number of misses by the Wellers, could have been a lot worse. The Brunswick defenders lost their bearings when attempting to exit the back-half, continually kicking the ball towards the playground flank which saw the ball returned over their heads, with interest. Halftime could not come soon enough for the home players and (frozen) supporters alike.

The third quarter saw Brunswick slowly get themselves back into the game, but poor decision-making when taking the ball forward hurt, with too much time spent on the grandstand side. The away team again kicked a couple against the wind to solidify their lead going into the final break.

For much of last term, the game was going through the motions before a late flurry of goals to the NOBs, including a second for each of Nevill and the excellent Max Naughton, gave them some much-deserved reward for effort.