ARARAT coach David Hosking has branded Sunday’s disappointing 15-point elimination final loss to Stawell as insipid.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Rats were jumped early, fought hard to work their way back into the contest but were their own worst enemy in front of goal as the Warriors made the most of their chances when it mattered.
Hosking said his side did not deserve to win.
“It was a bad, bad day and you can’t have a bad day in finals because there is no next week,” he said.
“We’re pretty disappointed.”
The mood was grim in the Rats’ rooms post-match and Hosking did not hold back in delivering an honest message to his playing group.
“After the game I gave them a bit of a spray because they’ve just wasted a year with that performance,” he said.
“That was a very, very insipid display.
“We didn’t deserve to win – they did.”
The Rats could have easily been in front at three-quarter-time but poor kicking cost them dearly.
“If we had have kicked straight through the second and third quarters in particular, then the result could’ve been very different,” Hosking said.
“Certainly I thought Stawell’s delivery to their forwards was a fair bit better than ours.”
Hosking said despite controlling the middle portion of the match, he did not believe his side played well.
“I don’t think we played well there but we played better than them, but we just couldn’t hurt them on the scoreboard.”