BRIGHT'S solid run of form came to an end at the weekend when the Mountain Men came up against Greta in sloppy conditions at Pioneer Park.
Injuries to key players saw Bright undermanned during the clash between the two sides fighting it out for a spot in the finals.
In a sour note, Jason Hewitt, in his first game back after weeks on the sidelines, reinjured his hamstring, as did gun forward Nick Howden, while Daniel Wallace suffered a season ending knee injury and utility Ricky Weimer left the field with a suspected broken hand.
The 31 point loss sees Bright slip out of the top eight on percentage, but coach Ryan Kent - who was his side's best player on the weekend - said the game was a good experience for the team which had won its previous six games.
"Being the first wet game we've played for the year and having smaller bodies, our side is more adapted to dry weather and the way we played on Saturday showed we lacked that experience," he said.
"Greta's bigger bodies stood out and they got the jump on us, and we struggled to get back from there.
"We had a bit of pressure to keep winning and in reflection I don't think losing was such a bad thing.
"Obviously it would have been fantastic to win and it would have really set us up, but it takes the pressure off now.
"We can go into the next couple of weeks being the underdog, and we can just go into the games playing a free flowing style of footy."
Kent said the Mountain Men were lacking in attack, which had been its strength during its solid run of form leading into the match.
"We broke down across the half forward line," he said.
"We weren't getting the feed into the likes of Tom McDonagh and Nick Howden as much as we had in previous weeks.
"There were a few instances where we didn't quite take the opportunity and Greta got lucky ones as well and they took their chances and we didn't."
Solid contributors in the loss were the likes of Ryan Peace, skipper Steve Nightingale, Dylan Bursill, Steve Pack, Nathan Jones and youngster Darcy Martin, who worked tirelessly in the heavy conditions.
Earlier the reserves suffered a narrow loss against the Blues, going down by a goal.
In a low scoring affair, Tracy Culhane's men led at every change before the running out of legs in the final term.
Michael Sullivan was best afield in the loss and received strong support from the likes of Luke Lewis, Michael McDonald, David Kelly, Greg Larwood and Kyle Arter.
By - ALEX BAIRD.
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MUD BATH: Bright's Nathan Jones breaks out of the congestion during Saturday's match against Greta.
PHOTO: Alex Baird
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Last Modified on 05/07/2012 09:14