Pakenham has no time to rue Saturday’s round-18 performance with the Lions set to line up against Seville again in this week’s qualifying final.
Pakenham will look to its midfield as the area to build on after suffering a 22-point loss to the Blues in the final game of the home and away season.
The Lions turned the footy over and poorly distributed the ball, leading to scoring avenues opening for the Blues on a smaller deck.
The playing group and coaching staff will reassess this week, but there’s change coming in the middle.
“We’ve got a number of guys that go through the midfield so we’ll probably change a few things there and look to give a different balance in that midfield,” senior coach Justin Stanton said.
“We’ve just got to remind ourselves that we can get back to focusing on what we’ve done well during the year and play our brand of football.
“We’ve got to turn up with a better appetite for the contest.
“We’ll try and match them in the midfield and take our opportunities when we go forward.”
Finding the right targets efficiently in the front half will be massive in fuelling the result, as Pakenham uncharacteristically only had four players find the goals on Saturday.
Club-leading goalkicker Sam Cachia was limited to just one major, while Josh Haggar has gone goalless for two weeks.
“We certainly need a spread of goalkickers,” Stanton said on what’s important for the final.
“When we’re playing our best footy we’ve got a spread of goalkickers.
“The stakes are higher, finals football isn’t generally as free-flowing, so it’s important to take your opportunities when they come because there’ll be momentum swings.”
