Greenvale is in territory it has not often found itself in recent years, having suffered three straight losses in Essendon District Football League premier division.
Losses to Keilor and Maribyrnong Park didn’t make the Jets’ task on Saturday against reigning premier Aberfeldie any easier.
The Jets football was riddled with mistakes and turnovers.
In each of the first three quarters, they had control early and the ball spent plenty of time in their forward half, but disposal into the 50 was terrible.
Like all good sides do, Aberfeldie made them pay on the scoreboard, while also restricting the Jets to just three goals in the first three and a half quarters.
Aberfeldie went on to win 15.14 (104)-6.7 (43).
Jets coach Shannon Grant kept the players behind closed doors for about 15 minutes after the final siren.
“We had some pretty honest conversations in the rooms and we’ll do it again during the week,” Grant said.
“We need to get back on the track and make sure we work hard and improve our game. We have to have the courage to get better from it.”
Grant said that in the past two rounds, the Jets had moved away from playing their brand of football.
“We’ve certainly got to have a look at that and address a few things,” he said. “Make sure we band together, stick together and work on it.
“We turned the footy over too much. Our effort and intent around the footy wasn’t too bad for most of the day. [But] when you lack care and responsibility around the footy as much as we did, good sides will hurt you when they get the ball.”
The result puts the Jets back in the pack and sharing a 4-3 record with three other sides.
“We’ll find out about a lot of our group in terms of where they are at from here on in,” Grant said.
“We need to get back to playing the brand of footy we know we can play. We certainly have got some work to do.”
In division 1, Craigieburn monstered Taylors Lakes in a 31.14 (200)-5.6 (36) win.
The Cloke brothers were again dominant up forward, Cameron kicking 12 goals and Jason kicking nine in best-on-ground performances.
Westmeadows won a thriller against Tullamarine, sneaking home by a point. Looking the likely winners, the Tigers had to hold off a last-quarter comeback from the Demons to win 12.12 (84)-13.5 (83).
Jordan Foster kicked six goals for the winners.
Roxburgh Park sits atop the division 2 ladder after beating Coburg Districts 14.8 (92)-11.7 (73).
