Men’s Seniors
Loss: Defeated by West Brunswick 7.8-50 to 21.26-152
We were very keen to get off to a good start on the weekend as we did in round 1 but this time ensure we put together a 4 quarter effort. It was always going to be tough having lost Rory Chipman to a hammy, Will Elsworth to neck issue and Cal Johnston who was BOG in Rd 1.
The game couldn’t have started better!! Kicking with the wind, a clear tap by Josh DeWaard to Hally, who handed off to the running James Fleming who’s penetrating kick spilt to the hands of Polly and bang a goal inside of 15 seconds!! Wow awesome.
Yet 2 mins later, we lost Paddy Campbell to a hammy and our opponents had scored their first goal. It was a sign of things to come. A massive 37 forward 50 entries to our 10 in the first half told a formidable story…..we could not hold out their run and losing Dean Letson to a hammy mid way through the 2nd really put us under pressure down back. Our stoppage work was scrappy and the oppos mids two way running hurt us deeply. We went into the main break a disappointing 84 points in arrears.
At half time we moved a couple magnets around and asked the players to take on the corridor and take some risks. To the guys credit we were good in 2nd half considering how under manned we were (20 unavailable players last Saturday!). Moving Michael Scott back had our D50 exits working well and then with Josh DeWaard killing them in the ruck (Rucked entire day unchanged) and both Ed Donelan and Jacko Hatton getting on top, our ball movement was far better. Seeing both Wheels and Steve Sharrock snag their first majors for the seniors was a highlight. As was Pollys front half work and Stoney’s ability to find space…..
Considering West Bruns are a top 3 team, an 18pt 2nd half deficit was a solid outcome considering where we were at half time.
We can continue to focus on negatives, but we have decided to further focus on what we are doing well. The growth of players such as Josh, Jacko, Falk and Ed demonstrates we are building some key personnel for the future and when you consider throwing in a couple of our new 19yo recruits in Jai and Wheels…..the future looks reasonable. We just need to up our work rate, training attendance and game day availability…..wins are not far away.
Goal Kickers: R.Pollard 3, M.Scott, N.Patton, B.Wheeler, S.Sharrock
Best Players: J. De Waard, E.Donelan, M. Scott, J.Hatton, R.Pollard, J.Fleming
Men’s Reserves
Loss: Defeated by West Brunswick 2.3-15 to 32.29-221
This game represented one of the toughest moments a club can endure. As so many players were either injured or unavailable across our squad, it was a genuine struggle to muster enough players to field a reserves team this week. Many thanks go out to West Brunswick for helping us out with players and to a number of others who either filled in or put their own injury woes aside to get out there.
As expected, we were no match for the opposition on any front with the exception of the Centre bounce department. Here, due to the good work of our courageous skipper Will Ponsford and the talented “Mo” Clayton, well supported by Peter-Budge and first gamer Steve Orfanidis, we were more than competitive. A number of positives to come out of the match were the work of Cam MacLennan in the ruck for the first time and the debut of Alon Rosinger, who showed his versatility in a number of positions.
A great highlight was the brilliant goal of the year contender from our skipper, Will Ponsford, who beat a number of opponents and snapped truly from well out on his left foot…… (wow wee!)
With many players returning after the break a massive spike in performance will be welcomed by all…. Sometimes courage just isn’t enough.
Budgie
Goals: Clayton, Ponsford
Best: Ponsford, Clayton, Peter-Budge, MacLennan, Stedman, Buswell, Esdaile
Women’s Seniors
Loss: Defeated by Aquinas 1.4-10 to 10.7-67
Saturday’s game was a game that we needed to win to level the ledger, and we came out strong in a first-quarter arm wrestle. The letdown was giving away a goal with 3 sec to go in the quarter.
The second quarter was a disaster. Pressure dropped off, clearances were down despite winning most taps, our defensive work was sloppy, and the opposition was excellent, resulting in a game-defining quarter blowing Yarra out of the water.
The positive was that the best players were all new signings, including some of our young brigade. We’ll look to re-group at Easter, get some players back and set ourselves for the next month of footy.
Goals: E.Elliott
Best: B.Pascoe, L. Hausegger, I.Baldwin, C.Sheldon-Collins, S.Padovano
Women’s Reserves
Win: Defeated defeated Aquinas 6.3.39 to 1.8.14
During the week, our team was constantly fighting battles with player injury & trying to avoid covid, we weren’t so fortunate this spread our senior & reserves side thin on selection. Nevertheless, our teams reserves teams’ cohesiveness held strong and the girls got around each other. The vibe is magic right now within our group and the atmosphere and vibe is a total buzz to everyone getting around them.
One day out from the game our list reduced in size, going from 23 for game day down to 20, this was concerning however coming off the back of a win our girls still banded together strongly.
Pre-game day preparation was fairly similar to last week, we regrouped online and made a commitment to each other to follow our core values and focuses for the game and a vow that each of our girls would protect each other on the field and that is exactly what we’d see them come out and do.
On game day, the plan was simple, on arrival check in with every one of our players to make sure we are in the zone and to start building the excitement and hype. The game day preparation was broken down into individual roles / jobs on field and expectation. Then the lines were brought over one group at a time to discuss the key focus and strategy and finally the team as whole was addressed. No mixed messages for the girls pregame. Everyone was aware and across the plan.
Aquinas absolutely came out us in the first quarter, 12 inside 50s to Yarra only 2, Our back line held strong, they were ferocious in attacking the ball and defending against all that pressure right away. Our midfield / wingers provided the back line with an amazing amount of support. Our forwards pushed up to provide over the top support this effectively allowed us to break the wall and try reducing the repeat entities. The play was congested for a long time, Aquinas were only able to kick 3 behinds because of our hard work and we managed to kick a goal against the wind to take a 3-point lead at the first break.
Our message was simple we were now going with the wind and kicking into the scoring end in front of our home crowd and the plan was to try get at least 2 more goals on the board before half time and keep them goalless. To the credit of our girls, we held strong and did exactly that. We celebrated all our little wins and got around our goal kickers when they scored the goals.
Our plans changed after half time a few of our girls were given new direction and it was vital we changed our plans slightly to reduce the impact of Aquinas coming at us and put them away in the third as the breeze pushing up the ground was their last opportunity to try and score heavily on us. They kicked 1 goal and we put 2 more on the board against the wind. Our girls heads never dropped we only responded with going harder.
There is still a lot to work on for our girls, making stronger leads, not getting caught behind the ball and fitness we will need to improve. Overall, a fantastic effort by our girls and a well deserved win.
By the end of the game were down to 17 on field, no subs, no rest or breaks our girls left absolutely nothing out on that field. If someone fell over, they picked each other up and kept going, they played for the love of each other and the club. Again, we are so proud of this team.
We would absolutely love for a much bigger crowd at our next home game. Please try make every effort to come down and support our ladies.
Best players: A. Jones, A,Witney, A. Jervic, S.Window, M.VV, E, Bourke, A, Bernardo
Goal Kicker: S. Meyer 2, J. Lane, A,Witney, O, Hudson, A. Parr
