Another great day for football- coach Hotton was fresh off the plane from China, Jorge had recovered from last week’s illness and we are a week closer to getting Jim Bob, Ned and Ollie Horigan back on the park. Even the weather was perfect – a gentle breeze to the David St end.
Unfortunately things turned south from there. We were up against a Mordi Brae team that looked similarly matched based on recent results but from the start played much better as a team. They also had a very tall kid who could run, mark and kick, who caused us numerous problems throughout the game. While the first quarter was played largely in their forward half, there were some late good entries to our forward line. One from Jorge who left his opponent on the ground. Another as a result of some good stoppage work ended up with Sam Marshall who kicked long. Unfortunately we were unable to convert and the ball kept coming back.
The second quarter was much of the same – we had some good passages of play, but Mordi Brae’s quick hands to put players in the clear: and their ability to hit their targets meant that we struggled to compete. At half time we were 33-1 down.
At half time the kids were implored to remember to handball quickly – and put players into the open, rather than taking 5 steps and missing the opportunity. There were some better passages of play in the 3rd quarter. Zach Bowen was straight at the ball and his desperation and clearance work was great to watch. Ollie Hotton was also playing his best game of the season. However some lapses from us and good play from them saw the 3 quarter time score 52-1.
The last quarter saw us kicking into the wind and a blowout was looking on the cards. It had taken 3 quarters but we started the last quarter with a lot more intent than we’d shown in the rest of the game. The first 7 or 8 minutes was spent in our front half and we finally goaled after a good passage of play from Dan to Will to Fynnie who marked at the top of the square and went back to goal. Unfortunately Mordi Brae didn’t let up and they scored the final 2 goals of the game. Final score 64-7.
After the game Trent stressed that we need to show more commitment getting the ball and practice at full speed as our ability to find a target by hand or foot when pressure was applied was down on what it could be.
BoG this week Zach Bowen with awards also going to Jamie Draheim (who, along with Jorge repelled numerous attacks) and Olli Hotton.
