As I woke Sunday morning I could both see and hear the weather. It was like armageddon had arrived. Sideways rain flooding everything in its path. I thought to myself “won’t be too many goals kicked today”. We were playing on the local home of football, The big Boss James. We arrived excited at playing on the hallowed turf. East Malvern broke our hearts earlier on in the year, pipping us on the last kick of the day. Today I hoped to be very different. It surely was.
Leo was our captain for the day and it was like we parted the seas as the sun shone upon us running out for the warm up. The first quarter was tight, as we expected. Ben W kicked our only goal for the term as the boys adjusted to the vast amount of space. Kian was loving the extra room and continued his great year. Freddie was asked to give us all the run from half back and he was superb all day. Kaden took an overhead mark that was extraordinary considering the conditions. He told me it was his conditions to thrive and he didn’t let me down. James P was given a job on the best opposition forward for each quarter. He stopped them all in their tracks. It was even stevens at the first change and I felt the boys were warmed up and ready to fire.
I wasn’t wrong as we put the foot down in the 2nd quarter, kicking with a 2 goal wind. Mitch R kicked two great goals for the quarter and was killing it. With Ben H out injured, Sandro was asked to play on the ball all day. He kicked another great goal on his way to votes. Harry BG and Mikey were not letting the opposition get it past the middle of the ground as we played a line higher. Maxy L always seems to get into the right spots throughout a game. A great contested mark and the following goal gave us a handy buffer at the main change.
The message for the 3rd term was to keep the pressure up and ensure we filled the scoreboard up. It was great to watch the fun and enjoyment that comes from free flowing football. We kicked 3 into the breeze to put the game out of reach. Huddy was in a goal scoring mood and kicked two beauties on the back of a great smother from Leo and continued efforts from Hugo and Jack W. Nate W played forward this week and if only he held onto about 5 marks he would’ve nearly been best on. What he did do though was drop a mark, recover and as he was running away from the goals, snapped truly for a great snag.
The scoreboard was shining over the ground. We peppered the goals in the last quarter, all behinds, unfortunately. Geordie took a ripper mark down back. Ryan and James H kept up their good tackling skills.The boys know the umps will always reward great run downs and tackles. It’s a big part of our game which is great to see. Mitch G and Will S acquitted themselves well all day at both ends of the ground. A great win and we belted out “Beside the sea” with gusto!
We sit 3rd on the ladder and play Brighton Beach after the holiday break. All of our remaining matches are very winnable as long as we keep the boys on the park and playing our best footy.
Another cold, ridiculously early start against Beauy Sharks this week.
Go Hampton Rovers – best mates
Cheers
Wayno
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