We arrived at the ground this morning to find it coated in a heavy rich fog. The thought of playing against Beaumaris Sharks, the local rivals, was enough to get all the boys up and about from the outset.
The game started with the ground still under heavy fog and the outer side of the ground nearly invisible. The foggy conditions played to our advantage with some great efforts through the likes of Angus.H, Zane, Mitchell and Ethan. The quality of ball played in the conditions was fantastic. We had most of the forward attacking in this quarter. The mids used the ball well out of the centre through Jacob, Reid and Max.R. this gave Baxter and Taj time to send the footy into the forward line where Nate got on the end of a long kick and had some time to steady and goal. Ethan kicked long into the pocket where Harry picked up and snapped a major. The pressure all over the ground was to be commended. Zane managed to lay a great tackle which saw him come off with a slight hip injury but soon after had him ready to come back on.
The fog began to lift toward the end of the second quarter. Beaumaris came at us hard in this quarter. All positions around the ground were under immense pressure but the boys stood up to the challenge and held their heads up high. The backs of Ziggy, Will, Nick, Toby, Angus.A all had to withstand the ball coming in on multiple occasions, to which I thought they all did an amazing job locking down on their opponents. Ziggy took a great mark deep in the back pocket which helped relieve some of their forward pressure. The forwards saw more scoring opportunities, through great teamwork up the ground through Deakin, Monty, Charlie and Max.S. This allowed the likes of Zane and Harry to finish off the great work with majors.
The Half time siren sounded to see us 15 points up at the main break (so the boys informed us). The third quarter was another hard fought affair, with Angus.H, Kai, Nate, Jacob all laying strong tackles. The ball was going back and forth throughout the entire quarter. Beaumaris managed to capitalise on all their forward entries with a goal. The mids with their pressure and use of handball saw Nate put a long kick down the throat of Ziggy who marked well under pressure, he went back and pulled his kick for a point. The teamwork shown by the boys under pressure in the quarter was great to see.
At the three quarter time huddle all the boys were a buzz and eager to renter the battle field to give one last effort. The siren sounded to start the last with cheers from the home crowd. The boys knew they were in for a hard fought last 12 minutes. Again the last quarter went with a similar storey line to the three that had preceded it. Beaumaris Sharks showed why they are a formidable opponent by peppering their forwards with constant forward entries in the first half of the last. The backs held on strong but Beaumaris still managed to put a goal on the board followed by another point which saw them only three points down with about five minutes to play. The last five minutes saw a momentum swing to us through our relentless want for the footy from all players. The skills were not quite as polished by this stage as the boys were obviously feeling the pressure and their energy supplies were nearly empty. Through the boys constant pressure and good use of pushing the ball deep into our forward line, at some point we had to capitalise on all the effort up the ground, and with two minutes to go Max.R managed to get his hands on the pill and snap across his body to GOOOOOOAL!! The final minutes saw our boys manage to hold off a Beaumaris Sharks outfit that was determined to put one over on their northern rivals. Great Game!!
As their coach today I felt that every single player played with integrity, spirit and FairPlay. I was so happy to see the boys at the final siren get around each other and pat each other on the back and congratulate each other for a great team win. After a brief huddle on the ground post match we headed into the rooms where the boys were waiting in a circle with Nick (first gamer, WELCOME NICK) in the middle and they belated out the club song!!!!! The boys earned the right to sing the club song after a gutsy and well played game.
To all the parents and helpers of the team I would like to thank you all on behalf of myself, Roger, Kim and Kate. You should all be so proud of your boys today, they did the club and jumper proud!!
Awards today in no particular order:
Max Reeve, Kai Currie, Angus Hare & Jacob Nichols.
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