The matches will take place tomorrow when hosting the Berrigan Saints in both football and netball.
Mathoura Timbercutters senior football coach Adam Bourke said the side gained valuable experience from their opening one effort against the Deni Rovers.
“We came up against a fairly big task against a side that was in the prelim last season.
“They’ve been well coached by Alex (Hay) for around five years.
“We went out were really competitive starting against a three to four goal breeze, having a one goal to four quarter.
“We had a couple of skill errors early. Because of that, even though we were winning it in the contest, we were not getting as much reward for effort as we could have.
“We played better against the wind, but we probably didn’t adapt to the conditions with the wind.
“Overall we interrupted Deni’s game plan, but we’re disappointed to have lost.
“Our average losing margin last year against them was around 170 points, and we averaged a score of two goals.
“Similar to last year, we missed a couple of easy chances 10 to 15 metres out, so we could have had seven to eight goals, and we were happier with that aspect.”
The Cutters’ next match doesn’t appear much easier.
The Berrigan Saints had an 193 point win in the senior football against Rennie last week.
Nevertheless, Mathoura are clear on wanting to play well in their first match at home to open the season.
“This week Berrigan’s a really big challenge for us, but like the first week, we’re up for the challenge and want to be competitive.
“It’s our first home game, and we aim to be the best team on the park.
“The main three things are fitness, skills and leadership on the field. If we can get on top of those, we’ll compete.
“The game last weekend was really physical, neither team took a backward step.
“We’ll have five to six out, and we’re going to lose a couple to injury, but we still have four to five to come back in our first 18.
“We’ve also shown improvement compared to the end of last year, and we’re pleased that Rovers coach Alex (Hay) came in after the game and said he thought that we were tough and that they couldn’t get their game going against us.
“We got our hands on it, but we were just a bit sloppy with the ball.
“If we can be a bit cleaner and use some footy IQ, that’s half the battle.”
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