A squally afternoon at Wattie Watson. Wind howling off the bay between sunny patches. Young Reserves fill in the gaps in the team.
1st Qtr: Randall immediately rucking to effect and roving his own taps. With Harris tackling, Hunt marking and clearing, Morris in and about, and Troy hustling and bullocking his way in. Mcleish showing some clean legs with dash, and Doyle finding a lot of the ball with strong marks.
A lot of soccer skills deployed in the wet and slimy conditions, smothering and forcing the ball forward. Akinci takes some big Marks forward but the Rovers just cannot finish and the ball keeps rebounding to the other end. With French and Palmer showing pluck and determination in defence, fighting hard but its SKC who make the early points.
2nd Qtr: The wind blows up, it’s not for the fainthearted now. Athletic taps from Randall to Troy winning many clearances. Running marks from Doyle, Paino, and Duffin provide some building blocks to create movement. Wells involved in everything near him. Saving marks from Frenchy and big clearing kicks from Hunt feed Harris and Mcleish’s run off half back but SKC have cleaner hands in the wet and kick ahead.
3rd Qtr: Early goal to City. Saints get next clearance with scuffling, bustling work driving forward. Doyle working into spaces takes more marks and drives into attack working one two handballs with Troy. Mcleish featuring in defence, Akinci valiant in attack. Rovers tackling in packs now and hacking the ball forward in the rain. Hunt solid, Duffin energetic but still no majors for Rovers.
Hail a factor for both teams and supporters run for cover as the ends of the goals disappear into the Antarctic conditions. Score 25 – 3.
4th Qtr: Randall taps to Troy who jams it forward to Akinci who turns – Goal! Rovers have a sniff. Duffin battering in close with bodywork. Doyle marks, passes off, Mcleish pushing, passing and Doyle scores! 25- 15. Come on boys!
The hail is bitter, gale force winds and the plum is greasy, it just can’t be picked up. Using the wind SKC keep the ball bottled down in their forward 50 and score the next five. Howe is working hard to clear but the weather is dire and SKC have more talls up front.
All in all this was a huge improvement from the Team. More players were prepared to get in and have hard crack for four quarters, it was good to watch.
Final Scores 49-15
Coach’s Best: Duffin, Mcleish, Troy, Randall, Doyle
No-one came up with a pic of the kids playing footy, so here’s one provided by Troy Morris.
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