As they say… A week is a long time in football.
Being part of a football team is hard work for the members of U8 Team Yellow.
Following on from last week’s first win against Dingley, training this week was all about the celebrity side of football.
On Thursday night the boys had their first photo session. After lining up with the entire Rovers under 8’s playing list and the coaches, it was fantastic to see close to 70 boys smiling for their first Rovers team photo. It is something the boys will always be able to look back on as they enjoy their football journey ahead.
Sunday morning and it was back to business for the boys – over the next 48 minutes of tough footy there were many questions we were about to find the answers to. Would they remember everything they needed to do on the field, had they all been practicing during a week where there wasn’t any footy training, and would they remember all the 1 percenters that they had done the week before to get their first win? The conditions were perfect for footy – and we were all ready to see how they played.
Our Coaches made some last minute changes to the pre-planned rotations with 3 boys unavailable for the game. We look forward to getting Caelan M, Jackson Block, and Archie back next week. This meant we were down to 1 on the bench – so the boys all enjoyed some extra time on the ground.
Our opponents this week arrived ready to battle with the Rovers. In the first quarter our boys took some time to get going, which in turn put our defence under early pressure. Will, Jack and Freddie were strong, combining with Jackson, Cooper and Angus to tackle the Beaumaris forwards at every contest. The boys were able to work together to clear the ball into the midfield, but we did not have many opportunities for the forwards.
The second quarter saw a different team appear for the Rovers – the boys wanted the ball and hunted Beaumaris at every contest. Just like Collingwood’s domination of Hawthorn on Saturday night, our boys took the opportunity to run and carry the ball at every contest. Kai and Josh showed some pace, Ethan was taking great marks, Sebastian was applying strong tackles, Kit was chasing hard and tackling. Eventually the boys were able to get the ball forward to Louis. Louis kicked the ball to Cooper, who lined up and put through the Rovers first goal for the day. The boys were excited and the energy levels were running high. The Rovers were back in the game.
In the third quarter Ashton had a great pick up and kick, Edward was getting kicks in the back line, Charlie and Harry were crumbing the packs and getting the ball in the midfield, and the team as a whole were competing strongly in the game.
The final quarter and the boys started to look a bit flat. Beaumaris were running out the game slightly stronger than the Rovers. Again the Rovers defence were trying hard. Cruz had some monster kick-ins after some opposition behinds, Jack and Caelan K-F were chasing, tackling and getting some kicks and handballs, along with Lucas who took some good marks throughout the game.
The boys competed strongly today and should all be proud of their efforts during the game.
The coach mentioned some items in the rooms after the game which will hold the boys in good stead as we get ready for the next round.
Playing in defence is vital to our team’s success, and all our players need to embrace that they can make just as big an impact on the game by working hard in defence as they can by kicking a goal.
The boys also need to be mindful that the game doesn’t stop when you kick the ball or handball. The boys need to keep running, contributing and moving to the next contest. If we stand still it opens the ground up for the opposition.
With these things in mind, and a training session on Thursday, we will be ready to play well and have fun all over again next Sunday.
A big thank you to everyone who helped out today, and to our Umpire Paul Foran.
Captains this week:
Angus and Louis.
Awards this week (in no particular order):
Louis
Charlie
Cooper
Joshua
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