The return of a swag of senior players has made a massive difference to Mt Gravatt, according to acting senior coach Nev Miller.
Thursday 15 July 2010
Mt Gravatt might be involved in a fierce battle for a place in the QAFL finals, but they are officially a premiership threat again after the performance at Aspley last Saturday.
In what some experts saw as a danger game, Mt Gravatt absorbed the best that the Hornets could throw at them and ran away to a convincing 55-point victory.
The return of a swag of senior players has made a huge difference, something that has excited assistant coach Neville Miller.
Miller assumed head coaching duties for the past two games in the absence of David Lake, who was in Sydney coaching a South Pacific Under 16 teams as part of his international duties with Papua New Guinea, and won both handsomely.
The father of Melbourne 100-game player Brad Miller, who was a former Mt Gravatt junior and senior product, Miller Snr lauded the contributions of Ash Evans, Tom Tarrant and Darryl White.
“To get all the experience back has really helped us,” Miller said.
“Ash Evans is an absolute jet. I haven’t seen much of Ash because I have been tied up with the juniors (state program), but since he’s come back from the knee reco he has been a fantastic player.
“It’s worked really well having Darryl and Tommy back.
“Tommy runs the backline, Darryl runs the forward line and I trust them emphatically. Tommy organises the match ups down back, Darryl tells the young guys where to run up forward, so it works out well.”
Co-captain Josh Vearing was also exceptional in his second game back from a broken wrist, while Dean page, Rory Lake, Ryan Thomson, Damien Stevens, Michael Schultz and Nathan Gilliland ran Aspley ragged last week, and Shane Morrison was super with seven goals.
Playing a crowd-pleasing brand of football, the Vultures return home to Dittmer Park this Saturday for a showdown with Broadbeach, who trail them by one game.
“We have to keep winning. We’re under the pump again this week,” Miller said. “We do have a lot of confidence from the way we have been playing – having those senior players back on the paddock makes all the difference.”
