Match Report by Michael Kennedy
A perfect morning for football. Stark contrast from the blizzard conditions of the week before. Clear skies, not a breath of wind and a nice venue in Peanut Farm Oval in St.Kilda. Clearly the home team, whilst sweeping the ground for sharp objects (needles) missed the soft objects (dog poo) which proved as tricky to navigate as the road closures due to the triathlon. Speaking of sharp objects (or dog poo??), the parking inspectors were up and about early. Just ask Tania Marshall who paid $80 for a latte (but got free parking) while she went to get change from the coffee shop. Should have Ubered (like Hopey should have) or run to the ground like Justine Tuffley?
St.Kilda City by all accounts are one of the teams to watch this season. Already well drilled and well coached they managed to recruit a few star players during the off season and as such was always going to be a tough assignment for our undermanned and undersized Rovers Team. A team which had 3 of our 4 tallest players on the sideline with injury and no bench to speak of (see picture).
The game started promisingly enough though. Our boys were hard at it for the first few minutes and when Luke Nixon-Smith took a towering contested mark at half back in his first game back from a nose job we thought “we might be a sniff here”. Sadly this was to be a illusionary moment as the City boys got cranking and delivered a sharp, athletic and highly skilled brand of footy. Despite some courageous passages of play in the first quarter highlighted by a 30 second window which saw successive bone crunching tackles by Jack Tuffley, Jamie Draheim and Jorge Houridis our overall pressure and skills weren’t up to it and we found ourselves down 20 to 0 at the first change.
Second quarter and St.Kilda City picked up where they left off. Too tall and too quick. They doubled their score whilst we were only able to add two points. Damian Paino did his best Warwick Capper impersonation as he tried to take early contender for mark of the year. Sadly it was all hang and no grab as the ball sailed well over his head. It did make for good viewing though. Not to be outdone Paino jumped to his feet and nailed a tackle which resulted in a free kick. Great second effort. A rare highlight. Our backline was under enormous pressure. Some great desperation on the goal line and in defence from Shahaf and a courageous act from Dan Hall backing back with the flight to take a good mark in the middle of the ground impressed. Jamie Draheim was doing his best Miley Cyrus work all day as our one man “wrecking ball”. Half time and St.Kilda City led 44 – 2.
After a pep talk and a kilo of organic oranges the boys came out juiced up but sadly St.Kilda City put the pedal to the metal and doubled their score. The parachuters were a welcome distraction and it was hard to tell if the screaming was coming from Luna park (big dipper) or the coaching box as we continued to turn over the ball and make countless skill errors. Luke Nixon-Smith again showed why he is so important to the team with more contested marking in defence but it was all in vain as St.Kilda city piled on another 6 goals to nothing to lead 83-2 at three quarter time.
Final quarter and the main concern was whether beach road had reopened after the triathlon so we could all get home easier.
Some of our sharpest play to open the term with Dan Hall taking a good mark and delivering to Ollie Hotton who pumped the ball long to a contest in the goal square. The ever cunning James Hope grabbed the loose ball and slotted through our one and only goal for the day. Paino continued to show is marking prowess with two in quick succession but it was too little too late as City ran away with a 100 point win. Honourable mention to Zac Bowen and Sam Marshall who worked hard all day without reward. Ned Gray too had his work cut out for him in his first game for the season having to shoulder the ruck duties in the absence of our talls.
After coming up against two of the best teams in the comp in our first two rounds thankfully we get to play the rebuilding East Brighton Vampires at home next week. In the words of Truman Capote “Losing is the condiment that gives winning its flavour”. Onwards and Upwards.
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