It’s in the bag! A day & season to remember.
A blustery & cold August morning presented itself for grand final day at King George Reserve on Sunday for our contest against Port Melbourne.
Captains were Josh Cameron & Fletcher Hall who have been in terrific form on and off the ground all season.
Our day started with Port winning the toss and electing to kick with the wind. With that they started with a flash and had the first two goals of the game before we had a score.
We have said all season that this Rovers team is special and they proved it on Sunday in front of all their family and friends. The Colts had all the running and their confidence was sky high at the first break but the Rovers were not about to let what they had worked for all season slide on the last day. As many Rover fans (and the coaching group) behind the boundary gasped at what was unfolding the boys showed the character we are all so proud of.
In the second quarter the team clicked into gear and turned up the intensity across the ground with a desire to win the ball and move it quickly at all costs.
By half time the boys had worked through Ports 10 man backline to get 4 goals on the board while they held Port scoreless providing a 14 point lead.
Now having an appreciation of the weather conditions the boys knew they had to take the game on and defend to the best of their ability as Port had what seemed like the strongest wind of the match going their way in the third quarter. The competitive nature of the team shone through! Our midfield got on top and our backline held the opposition to only 1 point after the Colts had a few genuine chances. The play started to go our way and while we had a few chances of our own the 10 man blue and red backline repelled all our entries and kept us scoreless for the quarter a phenomenon we had not experienced all year! We went to the final break with the game in the balance, at 13 points the boys in the gold and the green held their narrowest last quarter lead for the season.
The scene was set for a big last quarter and the entire team lifted for it. The last quarter delivered everything we worked on during the season, relentless attack on the footy, fast ball movement, hard tackling, talk and support for team mates, kicking to the top of the square and relentless defence.
The boys got what they deserved which was reward on the scoreboard as they kicked away with a 4 goal quarter from an impressive 11 scoring shots giving us a final score of 8.9 (57) against a very feisty Port Melbourne who finished with 2.1 (13)
Learning the game above winning is our club philosophy, I think it’s fair to say we achieved both!
A Premiership is a special achievement and all the boys who played in the team throughout the year deserve sincere congratulations. We discussed at presentation day while we often have different boys that bring their best each week it is the way our boys bond as a team every Sunday that makes this group great. Every player has advanced significantly this year on their footy journey, I have had the privilege to watch each of the boys grow and mature through the season they are a fine group that are establishing great foundations as people.
While we all deserve a little break I hope everyone enjoyed the season and will be back with your mates in the gold & the green in ‘18
Thanks to all of the players and families for a fantastic 2017!
Go Rovers!
David
You must be logged in to post a comment.