AARON BLACK COLUMN - THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

Last week was a tough slog against Subiaco in some pretty interesting conditions. It had rained heavily for a few days and the ground had begun to look more like a swimming pool than a football oval. 

Subiaco are the best contested football side in the competition, and knowing this we knew winning the contested ball stats would be a huge indication of whether we would be able to win the game or not. The conditions had a major impact on this as well, with heavy rain making it contested every single possession contested. 

We started the game off extremely well with the ball pinned inside our forward 50 but unfortunately we couldn't kick a goal, which is becoming far too common in recent weeks. We managed to kick four behinds in the first 15-20 minutes. Showing our dominance early but our inability to score. 

Our performance continued to be solid throughout the day with some tough, interesting football to watch for the supporters. Unfortunately as the day went on, our inability to kick goals and put heavy scoreboard pressure on we were unable to win the game. 

Similar to the first 15 minutes the ball was pinned for an extended period of time in our forward 50 in the last half of the last quarter with limited scoring done. With one exit out of our 50 leading to a counter attack goal for Subiaco putting the game in doubt for us. 

In what was a gruelling four quarters of footy in the conditions we are positive in the fact that we were able to be competitive for an entire game and not fade in and out. That is our focus for this week against Peel and is always important to win at this level.

Fortunately we play again at the HBF Arena this week as it's a lengthy drive from Joondalup to Mandurah but what's important is getting a win. 

Things still remain positive within the group and its ability to win, so putting our game plan into action, remaining positive and upbeat should help drive us to our eighth win of the season.