By Marcus Uhe
Paul Carbis is only two weeks in to his tenure at the helm of the Pakenham Football Club, but the trust and belief between he and his squad, and the squad in him, is evident to see.
Whether it’s the devoted concentration on display when he addresses them at breaks or commitment to executing a philosophy or tactic during the four quarters, Pakenham has clearly brought into the experienced coach’s wisdom.
At three-quarter-time in Saturday’s Outer East Football Netball Premier Division clash with Berwick Springs, he asked his side for a lift in the final term.
Midway through the third quarter, Pakenham led by as many as 31 points, as Berwick Springs looked out of its depth.
But the final four goals of the quarter, including one after the siren to solidify their grasp on momentum, saw the Titans roar back into the contest, having shaved the deficit to just six points.
Pakenham didn’t panic, showing the class and composure of a side with serious expectations in Premier Division and with finals appearance under their belt in 2023.
The Lions weathered the storm, holding their opponents scoreless and kicking three goals the other way, to bank the four points and open Carbis’ account in Maroon and Blue, in a 12.15 87 to 9.4 58 result.
“We’ve done a lot of work at training on the way we want to play, so if we go off that, we can always revert back to it,” Carbis said after the game of his side’s ability to address a poor third quarter.
“That’s what I said to them, it was a pretty clear instruction at three-quarter-time, to win the contest and take care of the ball.
“They’ve heard that message from the start of preseason last year, and they’ve seen it work. “From our practice matches, against Narre Warren and for parts of today they’ve seen it work, so there’s trust there.
“They probably haven’t got full trust in it yet, but it’s getting there.
“You can always revert back to what you’ve done during the offseason and through the week, and say ‘if we get this right, we’ll get the result’, and that’s pretty much what they did.
“It’s part of our learning that, we’ve got to play four quarters and the game’s not over if you give some teams momentum.”
Pakenham kicked clear in the second term after holding just a three-point lead at the first break, kicking four goals to one for a 24-point ascendency at half time.
The Titans were strong in the middle of the ground, with Chris Johnson returning to join Michael Misso and Justin Markulija in the engine room, but around the ground, Pakenham was excellent, moving the ball with speed and cohesion of a side that had played plenty of footy with one-another.
Jordan Stewart was patrolling the Pakenham defensive half expertly as he so often does and thwarted a number of attacks, while the pressure from ground level players in Tyrell Bignoux, James Harrison and Jake Barclay forced the Titans into mistakes.
Harrison weaved his way through a stoppage and goaled on the run from the 40-metre arc and Matthew Debruin was proving a handful for an undermanned Titans defence, with four to his name before half time.
Berwick Springs was missing captain, Brodie Warlond, along with Jayden Malek and Brodie McConnell from last week’s side that defended superbly for three quarters against Gembrook Cockatoo, and their absences were notable in the face of the Pakenham onslaught.
The half time siren was a welcome sound for the Titans, who needed a chance to regroup after the first hour.
Had it been a game of basketball, there’s no doubt that Hayden Stagg and Johnson would have looked to call a ‘time out’ during the second quarter to take the heat out of the game, but that option clearly wasn’t available.
Jaxon Knight kick-started the third quarter for the Titans with the opening goal of the second half, but quick replies from Stewart and Bailey Stiles saw Pakenham’s five goal buffer return.
It was the third quarter where the Titans made their run in round one against Gembrook Cockatoo with five goals to break the contest open, and history repeated itself a week later as they owned the ‘premiership quarter’.
Markulija was having his way with proceedings in the middle and Kayden Buselli was proving a handful up forward, while a one-handed juggling intercept mark from Aidan Nelson at half-forward was just the sort of moment that proved momentum was wearing blue and white.
Luke Morrell’s goal that sailed through as the siren rung out across Toomuc Reserve cut the lead to just six, and the ensuing push and shove at the culmination of an at times, fiery third quarter, was indicative of how much the result meant to both sides, desperate be out of the winless bracket of teams after two weeks.
It was the vast expanses of Toomuc Reserve that proved pivotal in determining the contest’s outcome.
One of the few grounds that can rival Mick Morland Reserve for size, Pakenham’s ability to own the space was notable, and the Titans at times looked lost in the multitude of pockets of space on offer as they struggled to move the ball from one end of the ground to the other.
If they didn’t win the centre clearance, it was a battle for them to generate scoring opportunities on a consistent basis.
Never was this on display more than in the fourth quarter, when Pakenham’s disciplined defenders shut off the defensive half and nary allowed an inside 50.
The discipline of Stewart, Rhys Brooks, Josh Trembath and Josh Haggar to remain deep and not follow their opponents up the ground into the contest meant Berwick Springs were often kicking to an outnumber when exiting its back 50, with Jett Kearney playing as the sole deep tall.
The Titans were looking to move the ball too quickly for their own good, needing to chase the game while behind, but not assessing what was unfolding ahead of them.
Pakenham’s inability to defend space was disastrous against Narre Warren in round one, with the majority of the Magpies’ scores emanating from turnovers in Pakenham’s forward half.
The contrast between round one and two in Pakenham’s ability to shut down an attack was stark, and according to Carbis, no accident.
“We work on our defence a fair bit, every training session there’s a fair bit of defence involved,” he said.
“Their forwards played high which we watched the week before, so we knew their forwards would push high and I think they were trying to stifle us and move the ball inside 50 easier.
“But what happens is, their forwards are high, we hold our backs and they’ve got to come back out eventually, and they kick it back to us.
“I’ve had teams do that against me before and I said to our backs, you’ve just got to hold and not push in, otherwise everyone’s in one part of the ground and you can’t move the ball.
“We’ve just got to be a little bit smarter and I thought we adjusted to that pretty well.”
Cooper Reilly was a force in the ruck, despite the Titans sharking a number of his hitouts, while Debruin, Stiles and Stewart formed an excellent spine, living up to their expectations as core senior players, and shouldering the absence of Tom Gable in the second half, who injured his leg early in the contest.
Berwick Springs, meanwhile, proved once that they will be a side not to be taken lightly, having been in winnable positions in its opening two weeks against 2023 Premier Division sides.
Johnson was immense in the middle with Misso and Markulija, but the lack of key targets ahead of the ball at critical stages was detrimental to their ability to score, something that the coaching staff will need to address in the coming weeks.
All three of Warlond, Malek and McConnell are all expected to be back in the short term.
Pakenham welcomes Officer to Toomuc Reserve on Saturday while Berwick Springs heads to Woori Yallock to tackle the Tigers.
