Nice overcast, partly sunny morning greeted us on Sunday for our standard early, crack of dawn game. It’s great to be a part of junior sport in the middle of winter. We love it!
Congratulations to Harry BG for his 50th game. Captain for the day and even bled for the Rovers at one point in the 3rd qtr.
We travelled to Southern Reserve in Mentone to face St Bedes who we had a great game against earlier in the year. Since then they have resorted to the grading system and they looked to have a few u15’s lining up. They have played very well the past few weeks and have won their games by big margins.
The boys really tightened them up for most of the day. Looking back on the game, we were only heavily scored against in the 2nd qtr. So for 3 qtrs, our boys were extremely competitive. The tenacity and character shown by the team this year cannot be questioned. I have given roles to Kian, Ollie, James P and Kaden in defence and they have played to instruction 100% of the time.
I’ve asked boys to play in positions that they may not like all of the time. Harry, Mitch R, Matty B and Mitch G showed great enthusiasm all day whether it was in the ruck or forward or back. We’ve had to teach some other boys to go and get the ball, because it won’t always come to them. Maxy and Nate W reacted to the chats we have at the huddle and immediately got involved in the contest. Putting pressure on opposition especially when the scoreboard is against you is all you can hang your hat on. This week it was Jack W, Hugo, Geordie and Sandro that continued to throw themselves in and provide that pressure.
The effort required to never give in, at any point of the match, was a highlight on Sunday. The two Benny’s, Ryan, Freddie, James H and Huddy all run themselves ragged. Benny H kicked our only goal for the game and we were still positive in congratulating him. I actually missed the goal as we were trying to swing some miracles around on the bench.
I think there’s a spot for Mikey further up the ground but he plays down back with such confidence its hard to switch him up. Will S had a great game in various positions and was awarded with recognition from the St Bedes coach after the game.
So while the scoreboard showed a 50 pt loss, I came away feeling we’d continued on from the Brighton Beach game with maximum effort against another good side.
St Kilda City got the jump on us last time and we’ll hopefully not still be asleep come 830am Sunday morning. Get the boys into bed early! 3 games to go in the season proper and then if we’re good enough, we’ll ruffle a few feathers in the finals.
Go Hampton Rovers – best mates.
Cheers
Wayno
You must be logged in to post a comment.