In 2004 I was asked to visit the Sherrin factory for a launch of a new football. We had a guided tour of the facility and learned plenty about making a leather footy. To make a match grade size 5 it takes many forms of materials & skills, quality leather, dye, rubber, thread, ink, love, care, craftsmanship & adhesive (glue) without the glue the ball would fall apart. I have kicked a ball since I could walk but I had no idea a ball was stuck together with glue. Jeremy (Jem) Thomas in the Under 11 D1 team typifies the glue inside a Sherrin; he was in everything, he threw his body in and led the way. His teammates picked up on the nature of his actions and followed manfully. His actions and leadership had STUCK. This came as no shock to me as I had witnessed this time and again over the last two years coaching him. Jem made the decision to go back and have another year in under 11 and play with his mates from school; a decision that was hard but for the right reasons. His mates in Under 12 miss him but know he will be a star in whatever team he plays in. I went down and watched the mighty Under 11 D1 team battle it out on Sunday against the Vampires. They were up against it conceding a goal in the first 15 seconds. Every boy had a go and you could see they are developing nicely using space and running to the correct spots more often than not. Coaches should never have favourite players. Shhh, don’t tell anyone, Jem Thomas is certainly one of mine.
Two things I didn’t like seeing on the weekend.
A pet hate of mine is watching players enter the field of play before a player has come off. For years the same clubs have been guilty of this and it drives me mad. Please, please, please coaches don’t let me see Rover players doing this. A metre or two is fine but 20-25 metres is CHEATING. On Sunday I witnessed several opposition coaches allow their players do this.
I won’t name the team or club, not ours, but it was brought to my attention that certain coaches are instructing players to creep over the mark to smother set shots as the coach has identified inexperienced umpires do not pull players up on this. These two items are cheating and we at Rovers do not and will not allow this to happen. If anyone sees this happening, please point it out to me and I will deal with this via the League.
OK enough of that, let’s talk highlights.
The Mighty Under 12 girls took care of business, cartwheels, war paint and pigtails, spins, twirls, mud and flair, what more could a young lady want. They even get the fittest dude in Bayside as their coach.
The Under 16 girls saluted also. Tayla Jones was at it again, the speedy Miss Jones kicked 3 sausage rolls. It must be the extra Monday aths sessions she attends.
The Under 12 boys teams went down. D1 was missing Archie ‘Tractor’ Roberts who was plying the trade at State selection and D6 went down after a slow start. The D6 lads struggled to get going, time to reset in the Under 12.
Under 15 D4 went down in a nail biter. In the Under 15 D1 Blue, Granty’s message was loud; run and carry and that’s what they did. They beat East Malvern by a goal. They used handball brilliantly and the vast open space of The Boss was their friend. Great to see Dom and Kyle get amongst the goals. Those boys are smart and always have a go.
Gold had a big win but the way in which St Bedes went about their footy is a credit to them. They were out-muscled and outplayed but never gave in. The principle of sweep the sheds was alive and well on Sunday – 1 orange peel was tossed and the master coach calmly reminded the lad that throwing a peel was not in the sweep the sheds mythology.
Master Coach, Mark ‘Bomber’ Riley has all eyes and ears. Well, almost all eyes.
Under 11 D5 had a strong win over Port.
Under 10 White lost to Oakleigh and Silver lost to Prahran, both games tight tuff affairs.
Under 9 Yellow went down by a goal. The team welcomed Jack Breen for his first game. Under 9 Purple’s coach Alvaro was a little nervous following a defeat, he feels the total support of the board is wavering.
Under 8 Purple sang the song as did U8 Orange, Andrew said the tackle count was off the charts. U8 Yellow won well with plenty of running kicks being the focus, Charlie Elliott kicking his first goal was the highlight.
Both Under 13 teams had a loss – the U13 D3 match report is worth a read as they went down by 7 points in a close match against Port/South Melbourne.
Perko coached the Under 14 as Gus was at a conference, no doubt learning ways to get the lads energised. Craig did a sterling job and was direct in his assessment that 3 goals 16 points is not conducive to winning games of footy. The message from the coach was direct and encouraging; the boys went down to the Hawks in an entertaining game.
The Great man Stu Murray had a moment to rival the likes of Norm Smith, Jeans, Barassi, Lombardi even, in a stroke of pure genius the Mighty Egg rolled out the 1988 country Grand Final story about who wants to play on Bull Riley the best sharp shooter in the business. The lads drew inspiration and never looked back; they responded and beat the Waverley Hawks by a goal. The D2 team went down; according to the League they were competitive (enough said on this).
Nick’s Under 17 team like any good machine just keeps chugging along; they are sitting nicely in 3rd spot on the ladder.
Congrats to all the teams that participated in the Red Shield Appeal. Once again the Rovers have helped a good cause.
Have a great week everyone; see many of you at training.
Go Rovers
Caggs
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