Hi team,
After a successful start to the year l used this week as a bit of an experiment, getting the boys more involved and responsible in the pre-match instructions to their own team mates (which they nailed!) and Kurt and myself tried as hard as possible to spread around the goal scoring opportunities, zone time and bench time (which you all know are priorities of mine).
This game was a much scrappier affair than last week as our boys came up against a stronger group who were good tacklers, putting more pressure on our guys which is good for them. This definitely slowed down some of our usual runners, but even though it was a lower scoring event, our boys always had the match under control and won pretty comfortably by a couple of goals.
Shae and Hewy lead the team out followed by first gamer James De Nicola with his new team mates. The first quarter was a bit of an arm wrestle with Stricko showing some dash in his attempt to kick the opening goal of the game and Luke laid a handful of tackles to keep the opposition under pressure.
In the second quarter Jebby was unstoppable with plenty of kicks, a few marks and a nice opening goal. Harry Haines also booted the ball into the clouds on a few occasions. Hewy showed some great run with the ball, Josh Bou Diab took a nice mark during the quarter and Massimo also chimed in with some nice work. It was great to see Tyler Birt get amongst the play collecting the ball and following up with a nice kick. With the ball wet from the dew, Shae started the first ‘falcon’ count of the day after the ball made contact with his head.
The third quarter was owned by Harry Haines who showed pack busting strength many times throughout the quarter, breaking through tackles and booting the ball up the ground. Josh took a nice grab and passed the ball to Zac who claimed a spectacular mark (that unfortunately wasn’t rewarded with a goal). Adrian Gonzales also got among the action with plenty of touches as he showed off some new skills.
The last quarter saw Zac pounce on the ball and sink a lovely goal which pretty much sealed the game. The ball was shared around with many possessions by Jebby and Hewy (who also took a great pack mark despite being outnumbered 3 to 1!), Luke had a big run through the middle and followed up with some second efforts, and Ben also had some great run with follow up tackling. Shae also had a good game getting kicks in every quarter.
Thanks to all parents for helping out with tasks and the ease of which you all seem to assist. To win 3 of 4 (and being very unlucky in our only loss) is a great start to the season. I love seeing the boys learn and deliver it back to us on game day. I am not one bit concerned if they make mistakes – these are just opportunities for them to learn – and it is great to see them all just have a crack.
The fact that the boys have now proven to me that they already know the basics, such as telling me what to write on the white board before the game, means that during the rest of the year as their skills collectively get better, we will be able to teach them some fancy new moves on the footy field. Look out!
Koje & Kurt
Coaches
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