by Aidan Fawkes

A SHAYDON Bloomfield-inspired Lara has condemned Colac to one of its most humiliating Geelong Football League defeats in years.

Bloomfield, a strongly-built young forward who kicked 199 goals in the previous two seasons, booted 13 majors as the Cats won by 95 points, 23.25 (163) to 10.8 (68), at Bisinella Oval.

Colac had no answer for the former Albion spearhead and faces a long week on the training track ahead of a clash against St Marys.

The defeat has dropped the Tigers to eighth with a 2-3 record and put the side on the back foot in the race for finals.

But coach Matt Gibson has concerns more immediate than realising a long-term goal to make the top five, including lifting intensity to compete at GFL level.

The thrashing on Saturday exposed two major problems for the Tigers.

The first was their inability to seize control when they kicked with a strong breeze – Lara won the first and third terms 10.10 to 10.5.

The second – perhaps more alarming – was how easily they leaked goals when battling against the breeze.

Colac kicked 0.3 in the second and fourth terms and could only watch helpless as the Cats piled on 13.15.

Gibson said the Tigers copped a “rude awakening” against a side which had recruited well.

“In simple terms, we were terrible,” he said.

“We didn’t have the required effort, we didn’t have the will to work for each other, that was the most disappointing thing.

“Not enough guys are prepared to help their teammate out or to get into a better position to make it easier for them to get possession or get rid of the ball.”

Gibson said the Tigers’ lack of intensity hurt them when they kicked into the wind.

“The way we moved the ball was really conservative, there was no run from behind,” he said.

“That tells us something, the guys aren’t prepared to work hard for each other, no one was willing to take the game on and try and create.

“We ended up kicking it down the line and teams were rebounding off it and putting our backline under immense pressure.”

Midfielders Andrew Kelly and Dan Jeffreys, forward Jake Carmody and key defender Shane Theodore were the Tigers’ best, but the contributors dropped away quickly after them.

Paul Presani, Kane Leersen and Mick Embrey each spent time on Bloomfield with little impact.