A cold windy day greeted us at Hurlingham Park on Sunday morning, Coach Sam gave the team a pre-match razz-up for another great day, with the key messages:
- Chance for us to keep improving
- Share the ball
- Kick to space, and
- Most of all have fun
Fraser and Hunter led the Rovers out onto the grounds as joint captains and we were quickly put under strong pressure from the Vampires. Some good work in defence by Jack, Carter and Hannah, but the Vampires kicked the first goal. Strong tackling in the midfield by Hudson and the Rovers were able to keep the Vampires well contained for the rest of the quarter with only one more goal being kicked.
The second quarter saw the Rovers lift their forward pressure with Huddy moving into midfield and kicking it into our forward line. Hunter and Tommy E worked their way into the game strongly in the second quarter and we looked every chance to even up the game. Unfortunately, the Rovers’ good work into space wasn’t being rewarded on the scoreboard.
Coach Sam reminded the Rovers of their training and working into space on a very small ground and with some well needed oranges and snakes the team went back out and put their mark on the game. A strong goal from Huddy and a quick second by Fraser following a brilliant kick from Hudson D out of midfield. A brilliant bit of link up play between the VdV brothers resulted in a point after Archie just missed a goal. Some great weaving from Fraser saw a kick for goal narrowly missing and getting a point.
The final quarter saw the Rovers lift their efforts even further with some really good kicking and marking by Josh, Tommy and Ernie with some more goals kicked by Tommy and Fraser. After a slow start, the Rovers delivered a terrific second half of football with awards going to Hudson D, Tommy B, Thomas B, Ethan and Caspar.
