Roos keen to make better fist of remaining matches after disappointing start

The Roos, who venture to Bracknell on Saturday, scored their first win last weekend against the winless Scottsdale by 55 points at home.

It came after two 100-point plus thrashings to Hillwood and Longford.

Lowe provided insight into the Roos' campaign so far ahead of the round eight clash against the sixth-placed Redlegs.

"The club's disappointed with where we're at, I'm disappointed, but you can only focus on what you can get out of the next half of the year," he said.

He spoke of how they had addressed their intent in recent weeks.

"There were a couple of games within those first five or six rounds where we were sort of defeated before we went out on the ground, our effort wasn't there which is frustrating." he said.

"But then we came out against Longford and the scoreboard was a big margin but up until three-quarter-time, we handled ourselves pretty well with the side we had on the park.

"I was pretty happy with everybody with the young list that we had."

Lowe said the group's average age was 19 when playing against Longford.

"They tried, they tackled and had persistent efforts, the week before against Hillwood we didn't have any of that, we looked like we didn't want to be out there," he said.

"So it's been a quick turnaround and a good learning process for the young fellas but they brought it the last couple of weeks which has been good."

He added: "The young guys are asking questions and they're wanting to learn which is great."

While Lowe didn't use it as an excuse, injuries have been a feature of Deloraine's campaign.

He said they were missing nine regular players against Hillwood and Longford and they had six return for the clash against Scottsdale.

That included North Launceston recruit Josh Rickard (knee), Sam Talbot (ankle), Laiden Bloomfield (broken hand) and Johno Smart (hamstring).

Rickard, who slotted two majors, and Talbot were in their best.

"Ever since the start of the season he's carried a knee through so we're just getting on top of that now which is great," the coach said of Rickard.

"He's too much of a good player not to have playing for us."

Josh's brother Brad, who also made the switch from North Launceston, was named Deloraine's best against the Pies with two goals of his own.

Lowe said the brothers had displayed great commitment and brought high standards to the club.

Of Brad he said: "He was our leading possession-getter on the weekend. That's typical Brad, an in-and-under player and a very quick player. He reads the game really well and is a contested bull".

Tyler Killick, who played division one with Essendon District Football League club Keilor Park in 2023, also starred on debut with two goals after recovering from an ankle injury.

Lowe said Killick, who is a friend of the Roos' Jayden Last, would play a couple of games this season with the intention of making a more permanent move to the club in 2025.

The midfielder/forward will play again this Saturday.

"He goes really well. He's a kid that's comes from a higher standard and knows the processes," Lowe said of the player in his early 20s.

Elijah Walters, an under-18 played who made his senior debut in 2023, kicked two goals from the wing last weekend in another impressive effort.

But perhaps the best story of last week was Shannon Brough's three majors.

"He usually plays back-pocket and a little bit of a shutdown role for us but we had so many guys rotating through the back line with the available players for us on the weekend," Lowe said.

"Shannon is a versatile player, in our practice matches we used him that way and he went forward on the weekend for the first time."

Lowe said the Roos would be without Jordan Talbot (knee), Matthew Griffin (concussion) and wing Deacon Bloomfield (unavailable) while forward Sam Roach returns this weekend from a quad injury.

Regular goal-kicker Talbot hasn't played since round three.