It was great to be back at Castlefiled Oval on a spectacular Autumn day in Hampton. The team knew that they were going to be in for a tough day today after playing a practice match against St Kilda City in the pre-season. Before the game, we talked about the need to concentrate and be ready to go from the start after it took us to a while to get going last week.
From the first bounce, the boys seem switched with Spencer and Charlie controlling the ball out of the middle giving good service to our forward line. Our forwards worked really hard and managed to lock the ball in the forward line upfront for long periods of time which led to sustained pressure and ultimately to goals. It was great to see the defensive pressure in the forward line from and even more pleasing to see the boys, particularly Zac sharing the ball and looking for players in better positions to set up easy goals.
The second quarter saw us kicking into the breeze which meant we need to run and carry the ball. Our defence was called into action early and held well with Ollie H taking a strong mark at full back and then taking the game on to clear the ball well. Up front, Charlie continued to get the ball and Stevie and Will attacked the ball well.
The boys seemed a bit distracted at the start of the of the third quarter, but managed to get their focus back Jack A and Zac took control in the middle and continually delivered the ball to our forwards where HD was grabbing everything in the air and linking up well with our midfield. This allowed Nic to go to work and use his left foot to snap a goal. JD was also strong and worked hard all quarter.
We knew working into the breeze in the last quarter not going to be easy, but there were super efforts out of the middle from Charlie and Stevie who kept pushing the ball forward. Lachie Meehan was finding space and linking up through the midfield. Our backline defended strongly with Angus working into the game and JD and Spencer repelling the Saints. Upfront, Jack R was at the bottom of the packs, Zac was still delivering the ball well, Jack A was looking for the hot spot and Ollie H was rewarded for getting to the fall of the ball.
It was a really even effort by all the boys today, with everyone contributing at different times throughout the game. We continue to improve both our skills and gameplay which is great to see!
The award winners were Jack A, Will, Stevie and Charlie. While our captains were Axel and Jack R.
