It was wet, cold, windy and just miserable. Conditions don’t get much worse for football.
Playing against the top of the ladder team, the same team that beat us by 50 points earlier in the year, was to be a monumental task.
But we have improved as a team, we are seeing it every week. Our skills are improving, our fitness is getting better, our structures are better. It was a game about guts and the boys had them in spades.
Taro was simply outstanding, his ability to get in and under and win the ball is a pleasure to watch. He just wants it more than anyone else. Our tackling pressure was superb yesterday, I would say most of our boys laid an effective tackle and it is great to see Nathaniel and Tom embrace this skill.
Jasper reads the play in the backline and was fantastic. We discovered an effective tactic in Marco kicking the ball in from full back which worked superbly. The luxury of having big Angus plugging holes both in the backline and up front is a luxury.
In fact, what we’re now seeing is what were once our lower skilled players starting to progress to the next level, and that improvement is making us a better team.
We went down on the day, but we can hold our heads up high. We left it all out on the ground and possibly, just possibly, we can not only play finals, but threaten too.
Thank you to all our assistants and parents out there in the rain, it was tough for us too!!!
Please if you can, we really appreciate your kids training both Tuesday and Friday; the only way we will get better is from practice.
Coach, Bill Barbas
Go Rovers!!!
Hampton 1.2.8
St Paul’s 2.14.26
