Melbourne turned on a spectacular Autumn day for our first home game of the season and it was great to see the boys arrive full of excitement for our game against Oakleigh. Despite some concerns that both teams were wearing the green and the gold, the Rovers boys understood they would need to use their voices to make sure they passed to their teammate and not the opposition.
The Rovers started strongly from the opening bounce with Zac winning the ball from the ruck and Leo moving it forward. Our forward line worked really hard and managed to keep the ball in the forward zone and were rewarded with multiple scoring chances. Again, we saw some great examples of players bringing their mates into the game, with Spencer winning plenty of the ball and sharing with Nick and Alex.
The second term saw the Rovers keep up the strong work with HD, both Jacks, Charlie, and Will moving the ball strongly from the midfield into the forward line. Again, the forwards worked hard concentrating on picking up their opponents to lock the ball in the forward line to see Leo capitalise for a goal after a misdirected kick in.
After half time, Oakleigh came out looking to bridge the gap, but the midfield led by Angus were having none of it and kept kicking long into the forward line. Similarly the back line were solid when called upon and pushed Oakleigh back. In the forward line, there was again some good teamwork when Ollie H passed to the top of the square for Spencer to mark. Ollie H was in it again, kicking a great snap goal (that has been replayed all afternoon), I’m still not sure whether he was trying to centre the ball or not, but we’ll take it.
The last quarter saw the Oakleigh side play their best quarter which meant our defence was tested and it was great to see the boys work well in defence by manning up and bringing the ball out from defence around the boundary line (see they do listen). The highlight of the last quarter was Lachy Meehan’s fancy footwork which saw him blind turn twice in a row to launch the Rovers froward time after time.
In the end the boys got to sing the song which they did with great enthusiasm which was a great reward for the all their effort. Well done today to our award winners Lachy Meehan, Jack R who was in and under the packs and HD who read the play well all day.
Thanks again to all our parent helpers who went above particularly to Steven who went above and beyond when it came to preparing the ground.
#gorovers
Tim Hall
