Hampton Rovers 7.6 (48) def. Caulfield Bears 1.0 (6)
A cool morning paired with a chilling wind greeted the team at Koornang Park on Sunday.
Captains for the day were Pat McConville & Harry Norton.
It was great to have a full line up missing only one player with injury and welcoming Alphonse Crawley for his first ever game of AFL.
After enjoying a strong record against the Bears over the years our boys turned up with a flighty attitude before the game, needless to say we had a little chat about respect for your opposition before we started the match.
The boys have genuinely developed a Rovers teamwork brand which was acknowledged post-match by the Bears coach. Again the team was fantastic with all players owning their positions and moving the ball very quickly to the forward line. It is AWESOME to see the improvement in EVERY player each week while different boys are having an influence across the ground in each match. There is no doubt the boys know where they can have their best influence for the team and although we have goal kickers each week all the boys are understanding that if it wasn’t for the TOTAL team working together our situation would be different.
I like to think everyone can sing the song but it’s not so easy to get everyone on the scoreboard each week. I keep reflecting on Nathan Buckley telling our boys not to worry about the scoreboard when we played his team and while we have sung the song a lot this year I genuinely think our boys work so well together and it gets better and better.
Tom and Jonty would have been deservedly very pleased with their games and interestingly both had significant scoreboard impact kicking 2 and 4 goals respectively yet both asked to play in different positions either before or during the game (listen to the coach boys and enjoy your job while doing it :))
Angus also helped the team playing out of his favoured position and did some ruck work to help Joe who has a niggle in his wrist and also hit the scoreboard with 1 goal.
While goals are great a lot of the credit for the week has to go to our mid-field boys. The Bears had a very strong midfield and proved our teams greatest challenge in the middle year to date. Joe, Angus, Harry L, Fletch, Josh C, Liam & Pat were excellent in their consistent efforts and team work to win the contest. The backline was brilliant also with Oscar being recognised by the opposition coach for his consistent effort, while we all really appreciate the effort Nick makes most weeks at full back and this week paired with Harry G, Refe and Arthur our backs were AWESOME.
Harry Lewis gets a special mention this week for doing the team stuff. He provided “shepherd of the year” to allow Josh C to clear off half back however last in the last quarter was my highlight when as the boys were being challenged across the ground he praised his team mates at a stoppage on the wing. I love the fact the boys are now not only helping each other man up but now also congratulating each other on the field for great play.
A tougher game than reported on the scoreboard finished with a great rendition of our song and a smiling debutant Alphonse in the middle.
Go Rovers!
David
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