The results page will simply show a 54 point loss to Beaumaris and those that were not at the game will think this was just a standard and expected result.
However, those that were at the game will know otherwise. Some football games are season-defining…today’s Div 1 match could well be one of those.
Before the game even started we were in trouble…9 out leaving us with just 19; 10 players had played yesterday and were tired and a little sore; 3 players spoke to me prior to the start of the game and told me they were in pain and would struggle to play the game…oh boy, this could be a tough day!
The theme for the day was “Believe” and the term Giant-Killers was used in the pre-match address. Tackling had been poor over the previous two weeks and the group was asked to make this a feature today.
What a response. What a group of lads we have.
1st quarter: hard tackling; fierce attack on the football & disciplined manning up saw us only 3 points down at the break…1.0 to 1.3
2nd quarter: continued hard tackling and intensity with some terrific passages of play, but Beauy’s class enabled them to get a little break at half-time…2.0 to 5.6
3rd quarter: this is what I will remember for a long time. Bone crunching tackles; gang tackles; kicks wide to runners; linking up handballs; marks; goals…when Callum Charlton burst through the pack and drilled that sensational goal on the run, we saw for the first time ever a faint sign of panic in the Beauy boys…arguing with the umpire and each other, stepping sideways, a hint of unwillingness to gather the ball…we had them rattled…5.0 to 6.8…only 14 points down and a realistic chance.
4th quarter: Sadly, injuries forced Lachie Fraser and Tom Goldsmith off the field and we were down to 17 men with others hobbling on various parts of the ground…we were cooked. However the intensity remained strong, the tackling was still intense, we continued to look wide and kick to runners, but we were physically unable to get back and cover their loose men and in the last 10 minutes they started to kick away.
The belief was evident today, especially in that 3rd quarter and every single one of you boys should be immensely proud of yourselves because I am and all the coaches are immensely proud of you.
Awards:
Tom Goldsmith: tough, hard, creative – one of the best games I’ve seen you play
Nick Van der Linden: tough, relentless running and terrific ball use
Lorenzo Venturi: game changing, creative, explosive & best of all…disciplined
Special mentions: Jacob Travers – played tall on much bigger opponents and battled manfully; James Hardeman – hard-working, creative and 4 tackles; Harrison Boys – lively target in the forward line and never stopped giving his al; Miles – Herculean effort in rucking all day against the might and height of Ando; Callum Charlton – hard, straight line attack on the ball with sure hands and that great goal
And everyone else…because you were all great today.
Let’s learn from this. BELIEVE in yourselves & continue to take risks. As we keep saying, we don’t care about mistakes as long as you are having a crack and doing the things we are asking.
