Summary:
After coming off a week’s break from the Queen’s Birthday weekend, the Div 5 boys rallied up again to face a new and improved AJAX team in their third game since being graded. We had set the attitude well, were ready to give it our all and do The Boss James proud. Coming off two very close wins, the boys wanted to set the tone earlier this time, and we did.
Jack C had an outstanding game, weaving in and out of traffic and kicking the ball with precision. He took us forward along with the other composed midfielders and we were able to sink in a couple goals in the first quarter. Our first was from Dylan VH who slotted one from almost 40m out. The boys got around him too which was awesome and intimidated the oppo. AJAX held on to score a late one, but the boys knew we still had more to give. The first quarter we were hungry, and it showed, as each contest we emerged with it first, but we needed to go another level to win the game.
AJAX started to get on top of the loose ball, with more run and gun than us. Colby turned the tables with some speed, Ollie C kept his feet and saved the backline multiple times, and Christian B was taking great contested marks to buy us time and take territory. These efforts helped heaps but AJAX just wouldn’t give up. They lifted and narrowed the lead.
Our third quarter we had some important focus points. We needed to transition run harder, tackle with more intent and also lock it in our forward line. The forwards and especially Jake Mc did this superbly, having ball security gave us a stoppage in our forward line, a great spot to set up in. Our wingers had a huge role, and James Mc and Jake G ran their guts our trying to help our backs and also confirm a score with the forwards. A great team goal was when we went forward and Hamish M, whos role as a forward is to win or halve the contest, brought a kick to ground, tapped it forward to a galloping Jake G who ran in and kicked a well needed goal. The boys were up and about again, but AJAX still wouldn’t give up! They kicked a couple silky goals and were given a solid but not too distant lead for the last.
It came down to one simple aspect of our game we needed to find again. Hunger. Hunger for the footy, life and death tackling and to pull the trigger and run with the ball. Nick K, despite getting rundown after a couple incredible efforts, did not dwell on it and kept lifting the team. He did not want to give up, and that became infectious in the whole side very quickly. We narrowed the score to be 5 points behind. We were gut running, tackling to hurt, giving AJAX ridiculous pressure. But was there enough time on the clock for us to find one? The ball went out of our forward line, but our system that we trust held up strong, as our press cut this off and switched it into the hands of our skipper James Mc. Despite James hurting his ankle previously, he pushed back off the mark and kicked to the confident Dylan VH who somehow found space in the forward 50 of 36 players. The whole crowd with their fingers crossed, watching nervously, saw Dylan kick a beautiful drop punt to split the Goal Posts and see us 1 point up. We sent all our mids back, and expected the ball to fly in there, but a man by the name of Charlie W said to AJAX ‘You Shall Not Pass!’ as he smacked that ball from the ruck 20 meters forward and with our ball security held it on the wing for 30 seconds and won the game.
Things we did well:
• Lifted in a tough time, never gave in
• Used the middle, ran and kicked to targets
• Ball security, locking it in
Things we need to improve on:
• Transition running
• Winning/halving fwd air contest
• Balance at the stoppages and getting more numbers to them
3 close wins but could have gone either way!! Must come into each game ready for another close one, the day we don’t may be the day we lose. Come ready to give it your all and we can take this competition on.
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