Down to 18 fit players with a few late ins and outs. Most worrying was that our entire ruck division from the previous week – Tommy Randall and James Hare were both out. It’s questionable whether one of our late ins had a full medical clearance from his mother so for convenience we’ll just call him Mr X.
We were up against Mordi Brae (MB) and tried a new tactic to start the game – not trying for the first 30 seconds. Turns out this wasn’t a great move as MB goaled in about 10 seconds.
Fortunately the rest of the quarter went very differently than the first 30 seconds. In a blink of an eye the midfield came to life and Oliver Hope (who himself had a dodgy ankle) went bang, bang, bang quickly followed by Mitch Gathercole. Quarter time 26-7
The second quarter was more of the same but this time it was Mr X with a couple of quick ones. The run and carry from the midfield was setting us apart – Benjo Wells, Sam Palmer and Jack Tuffley covering huge territory at pace. Half time 41-10.
The second half was much more of a tug of war with both teams kicking 2 goals. O.Hope and Mr X both hitting the scoreboard again.
Thanks to the U13s that filled in at the last moment. Ted Mackie, Lucas Civitarese and Patrick Troy. Also our Vamps player Morgan who was excellent.
Awards to Will Tuffley, Ed Cassidy and Hugh Harris (playing his best game for the season).
Coach Griffo had the team work more on structure today and had the mids hanging back when the ball was in our forward line. Given the number of repeat entries this gave us I’m sure we’ll see more of this.
2 out of 2 hopefully gives the team some confidence – with this Sunday seeing us facing the traditional Bayside rivals – the also undefeated East Sandy.
The Phantom
