Murray Bushrangers playing with purpose

Coaches don’t care much for cliches as long as they’re getting the best from their players.

And Murray Bushrangers coach Darren Ogier certainly wasn’t complaining as his side dismantled North Ballarat Rebels 15.5 (95) to 4.6 (30).

Bolstered by 10 changes with players returning from nationals duties, the Bushies showed all those things and more to put behind them the previous week’s 95-point loss to the Dandenong Stingrays.

“We were very conscious of bouncing back after a poor performance the week before,” Ogier said.

“When you have 10 changes to the side you never know what’s going to happen, regardless of where they’ve come from.

“But we really wanted to start well and set the scene and play a bit of passion and hunger and purpose and I think we really did that.

“We got them on the back foot from the start and continued on for a solid four-quarter effort — it was a much improved performance from last week and I’m happy we bounced back the way we did.”

Depleted in numbers, the Bushrangers have had mixed results in previous weeks but Ogier will be looking forward to having consistency in the coming rounds and the luxury of being able to pick from his best.

Although the final four rounds will be anything but easy, there’s plenty for Ogier to be optimistic about.

“The boys put in a huge amount of time and effort to play nationals so their mental and physical wellbeing is something that you’re not sure what you’re going to get there,” he said.

“But their performance at the weekend was tremendous — they were switched on and keen to do well.

“It’s great to see them all come together now and this is pretty much how we’re going to look over the last four games.”

In slippery conditions Ogier said it was a strong team effort.

But Max King (four goals) from Wagga, the forward standing tall at about 200 centimetres, gave the Bushies a much needed focal point.

“If he can contribute on the scoreboard that way each week that will be tremendous,” Ogier said.

“But the other thing is he’s bringing the ball to ground and the little fellas are feeding off him — his ball handling was tremendous and he took some really good marks in slippery conditions.”

The only negative for the Bushies’ was Nicholas Mellington, who spent the night in hospital with concussion after a clash.

Ogier said reports were he had recovered well.