Blacks coach Willie de Meyer has questioned the attitude of some of his players after a depleted Griffith Blacks side has gone down 99-3 against Ag College at Beres Ellwood Oval.
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The Aggies crossed for 15 tries in the win while Griffith hardly threatened the line on Saturday in the Southern Inland Rugby Union clash.
With only seven fresh players for the first grade clash, the Blacks struggled to deal with the continual onslaught.
de Meyer stopped short of writing off the Blacks’ season but said there needed to be some serious changes in attitude by parts of the playing group.
“I’ve been searching for answers. I’ve played in South Africa and Zimbabwe and I’ve never seen anything like this. This is close to a Chernobyl meltdown,” de Meyer said of the attitude problems.
“The scoreboard tells it all and reflects the attitude and commitment of the majority of players that should have been there.
“Some of the older heads at the club have suggested, during the week, that we stick with the blokes that pitch up and show commitment and go from here.
“A couple guys were legitimately absent through injury and some are due back next week, that'll strengthen us to a degree.”
The disappointed Blacks coach put the heavy defeat down to the lack of numbers as several players had to play three games of rugby on the day.
“Simply put, late withdrawals and no shows [cost us],” de Meyer said
“From the previous run [against Leeton] we had 11 blokes not there. That was disappointing.
“At Thursday night’s practice, we knew things were not going to bode well for us on Saturday.”
In a match full of lowlights, de Meyer managed to find a silver lining.
He thanked all his players from the weekend for their commitment.
“I salute all the players that stuck around from second and third grade because they were also short,” he said.
“They’ve earned a lot of respect from me.
“I really appreciate and admire them for making the best out of the situation.”