Footy Manager’s Report – Round 11

WHAT A WEEK

It would be easier to skip past the lowlights and just go straight to the shiny stuff but that would be a cop out.

A huge thank you to Gavin Sharp, our club Secretary and incident officer. Gav understands PASSION especially when it is overdone as seen recently. People, let’s ease the PASSION a little and be aware of our environment. Hours are limited sometimes, rain, jobs, family, priorities that need to take a number and get in line, unfortunately singing the praise of several last week needed to take a back seat to some items that needed to be hit on the head and fast.

OK, let’s pack the violin away and get into the good stuff.

Highlights
#1 Robbie Coccaro is a man who knows footy. Having coached at elite levels he undertook the responsibility of coaching the Girls U12 D2 (1 of 2 teams in D2 we have). Robbie has done a sterling job, every member of this team is to be commended, the girls have struggled since grading having ended up in the wrong Div. So why is this seen as a highlight you ask? A) the PASSION and Commitment from Rob, Mark, the parents and most of all the girls has been AWESOME, soundly beaten most weeks these young ladies just keep turning up and have a great time.

#2 Many weeks ago Steve Nelson questioned me on how I saw the U11 landscape look in 2020, we agreed to talk further and we did. Steve got on the front foot and organised a meeting with all 4 x U10 teams to meet, the result was outstanding. Steve chaired the meeting, set the agenda and we discussed several items to make sure our largest age group is fully loaded with a plan going forward. Every team was represented by coach, assistant and TM, Junior guru Chris Leeds was present with President Jase and VP, Rohan. Well done Steve!!

#3 The grapevine was in full bloom when the word filtered back to HQ that the U18 Ladies had sung the song. I got on the blower to Sal Monday to get a wrap, 30 mins later I had to hang up on Sal mid-sentence as my phone overheated as Sal was in meltdown. The love and adulation Sal has for this group of powerful women is immense. Ali kicked 3, Meghan M and Kim D shone like a beacon, 15 strong and Ashwood never knew what hit ’em.

#4 The U17 East Sandy Rovers are not to be outdone they too had a great win at Boss James in a hotly contested affair, Ben C, Hugo, Tom Mc, Benvo and the gang listened to coach Elliott’s message and gave Dingley some notice.

#5 Speaking of outstanding young people, Christian Carnovale is our Club Senior Captain as well as our undefeated D5 U14 team coach. Carney has the lads breathing fire, his easy to understand game plan and fun approach whilst being respectful is always ideal. A great win over Mordi Brae at Boss James sees the boys on top by two games, the goal that Josh N kicked was from the top shelf, James Mc, Jake T and Jake G were all great, shout out to DMAN and Colby for working doubly hard.

Around the grounds

U11 D3 showed East Sandy clean heels winning well, D6 lost the Waverley Hawks in a close game.

U12 Girls D2 Solid win for Kabel’s team over Brighton Beach, as mentioned Ormond had most of the ball against Rob’s team.

U12 Mixed D1 got home by 2 pts over St Bedes, tight game, real skillful I am told. Damo’s team went down by a few goals but kept at it all day.

U13 D2 ran with Prahran for most of the contest, got beaten in red time most quarters, the D5 team lost to Port Sth Melb, 25-51 at Boss James

U14 D2 Girls, had 10 scoring shots to St Paul’s 10 scoring shots, the problem is we kicked 1-9 to the oppo 5-5. D4 ran around without much reward.

U14 D1 played East Sandy, the boys sung happy Birthday to Elliott B with the ball below, good thing they showed coordination with the ball as many have no idea how to do the W for Winners. Alexander was best.

U15 D1 and D4 had the bye, D3 just got pipped at Boss James in a great contest.

U16 D3, Andy’s lads had a great win.

U16 Ladies at Zebs lost in the top of the table meeting against Oakleigh Dragons by 2 pts.

OK, that’s it, the feedback from the younger age group indicated that plenty sang a song, not that that matters.

Two weeks to go until the Lightning Carnivals for Under 8s and 9s. Three weeks for the Under 10s and four weeks until the finals start for U11-17. Let’s work hard, keep our PASSION in check and represent the Green and Gold the best we can.

#GOROVERS

Caggs