A good weekend for the club with 4 from 6 grades securing victories over Trinity Aquinas. A grade notched up its first victory of the season with a fine 43 point win. The two colts sides again showed their depth with both recording strong victories against quality opposition and the Dingoes continued their unbeaten run in their premiership defence. Unfortunately the reserves and thirds weren't able to make it a clean sweep for the club! Currently we have 4 of our 6 grades in the final five with the Dingoes currently sitting atop of the ladder, both colts sides in 4th and A grade in 5th place.
A Grade - 17.11 - 113 def TA's 11.4 - 70
A Res - 3.7 - 25 lost to TA's 13.12 - 90
Thirds - 7.12 - 54 lost to TA's 12.6 - 78
Dingoes - 14.15 - 99 def TA's 4.7 - 31
A colts - 13.11 - 89 def TA's 8.8 - 56
C colts - 10.8 - 68 def TA's 9.8 - 62
MATCH REPORTS
A grade
Uni 17.11 - 113 def Trinity Aquinas 11.4 - 70
As forecast, Uni A Grade registered our first win for the season with a solid, consistent and even team performance over 4 quarters to win convincingly on a hot Saturday afternoon down at McGillivray. With the temp. hitting 28c in the afternoon, we new that our solid pre-season would stand us in good stead, and all the boys were determined to work hard on both our defensive and attacking modes.
After TA kicked the first goal in the opening 45 secs, Uni took control of the game with 5 unanswered goals, but a late flurry from TA saw them grab back a couple just before the siren - something for us to work on. The second quarter was almost a mirror - with TA getting 1 on the board inside 30secs this time and also grabbing one with less than a minute to go so that at half time we were 8.5 to 5.1 but it could easily have been 10 goals to 2 or 3.
The second half unfolded in similar fashion to the first, with TA's threatening at times but with our defensive unit remaining rock solid and the mids and forwards working their buts off for 25 minutes every quarter the consistency of the effort was what really enabled us to stay comfortably in control of the game all day.
Everyone played their role and contributed in probably the most even performance by the team in the past year or so. Special mention to Johno Glasford, a 19 year old making his A Grade debut (he's fast a kicks the ball beautifully) and terrific to see some of the older guys giving him advice and support on the day that is so critical. Also, having done what I said I wouldn't do and try and name just about every player at coaches comments - I missed mentioning Shane Fleay (who was in the best players) and Stewy who had a brilliant game at half back and completely dominated his opponents thru the day - sorry guys.
Other than that - everyone played well - and we now need to maintain that consistency of effort as we go to Stirling this week which is always a difficult assignment on Richard Guelfi Reserve.
A res
Thirds
A very sluggish start to the game cost us the points on Saturday against TA's. It took the guys a quarter to switch on, but the damage had already been done. Through some very accurate kicking for an E grade game, TA's scored 7.1 to Uni's one point in the first quarter. It proved to be a lead that we couldn't peg back, despite playing the better football for the last three quarters.
Inaccurate kicking didn't help our cause and we eventually went down 7.12 to 11.6.
It was pleasing to see the way the boys finished off the game, but we obviously need to work on our start to matches.
Better players included Billy Croc who worked into the game well at centre half back, Spida who rucked most of the day, Andy Mac who was prepared to put his body on the line all game, Witty who did his best to lift the side with four goals and Kal Williams who was rock solid in the back half all game.
Dingoes
TA's showed no surprises as the Dingoes ran away with a convincing win. Accuracy in front of goal was proving a hindrance to a sexier scoreboard. UFC 14 15 99; TA 4 7 31. The coaches attempted to run the energetic Boom off his feet by playing him in the ruck and middle all game. Weather and fitness not causing any issues to the young lad who was instrumental in providing drive from the guts, earning him the 5 votes. However, the real coaching genius was Jords playing Wooda up forward who bagged 4 goals. Jordy Loxely, Filthy Phil and streamlined Andy Mellor all impressing and awarded votes accordingly. :
Votes: 5 Boom 4 Wooda 3 Jordy Loxley 2 Phil 1 Mellor
Goals: 4: Wooda 2: Game Plan, Tradey and Mellor 1: Josh, Broun, TA & Billy
A colts
The round 3 clash against Trinity Aquinas was shaping up to be a close encounter, after the disappointment of last weeks loss to North Beach.
The boys were keen to turn there performance around at home, and with some new players coming into the side; with Cal McNish, Rory and Ben Gollow (the twins) and Corey Smith all debuting this week. The boys again got off to a strong start, with Darcy Thompson and Brett Millman showing some toughness in the midfield. The boys managed to convert there controlling possession and put it onto the scoreboard with a 4 goal first quarter and a 2 goal lead at quarter time. The second quarter saw the colts carry on their play in the same intense manner as the first quarter, but they were not able to capitalise. Some poor decisions, and not getting boot to ball quick enough but ourselves under pressure, but the colts were still able to come away with a 3 goal half time lead. The third quarter saw the TA's boys come out with some fight, putting more pressure on us around contests. The Uni boys were under the pump for most of the third quarter, TA's got within a goal at one stage. However, some brilliance from James Caldow got the boys fired up and put the margin out again to two goals. Caldow leaped up and grabbed a massive mark over 2 players running towards goal, and finished the set shot with a goal. Going into the last quarter with only a 2 goal lead the boys new they were in tough battle. The boys responded, a fantastic last quarter saw the boys tear TA's apart. The colts ended up 5 goal winners, which maybe should have been more with the boys missing a lot of shots on goal and Caldow dropping the ball while having a set shot on goal. All in all it was a convincing performance, and scary to think what these colts could do if they put 4 quarters of quality football together.
Votes went:
5 - James Caldow: provided an option from CHF all day, and was so hard at contests also makes the opposition every possession. James finished with 3 goals and a massive screamer next to his name.
4 - Will Higham: absolutely dominated his player, and was always pushing across to help out his team mates at contests. His attack at the ball and hardness is second to none.
3 - Rory Avis-Foster: provided some excellent run, he used his pace well and we were able to attack through him. He also finished with some goals, including a very tidy snap to finish the game off.
2 - Nicholas Haslam (Sarge): we gave him an ultimatum during the week to lift his game or have a run in C colts, and he lifted. Sarge put in an awesome effort, dominating the ruck and pushing back deep in defence to help out his defenders.
1 - Brett Millman: the co-captain was very good this week on the ball, he worked really hard and always does the little things, laying a few good shepherds.
C Colts
The boys were keen to back up last week's win over north beach this week. Unfortunately we had to play in a sandpit, such is the state of the TA's home ground. Like last week the game started evenly with TA's getting the first goal. Uni then struck back quickly. The qtr ended with the c-gulls on top. The boys continued to show the discipline asked of them in keeping the forward line open. However as TA's were determined to turn the game into a scrap our delivery to our key forwards was down a peg or two on where we want it.
The second qtr saw the creation of a cult hero. CORKE!!! With the tenacity of a honey badger and skills way better than his older brother the younger corke was a star. His forward pressure and focus earnt him hero status amongst the legions of fans watching. Our second qtr was a lot better than our first as we were able to open up the play. This enabled us to build a lead by the half time break.
The third qtr started well. TA's came at us strongly and for the first ten minutes we were able to hold them off. However as the qtr got older and we began to give our key players a breather before the last qtr TA's began to get dangerous. At 3 qtr time we held a 1 point lead, for the third time in a row. However we were quietly confident that we could regain our run that enabled us to dominate the 2nd qtr.
The final qtr was a seesawing battle, just as one side looked like they would run away with it the other side would strike back. This made for an exciting and tense finish to the game. With very little time left TA's pinched he lead from us and looked to have it won. But we were not done with yet. A quick reply put us back on level pegging. We were then able to get the winning goal with about 20 seconds left on the clock. It was a memorable win for all involved.
There were a number of great efforts on the day so many that I cant remember them all. Jake carter received five votes for his efforts at full back. Brock snagged 4 snagger rolls for the day. Vauxy won the Steve hooker high leaper award for the round.
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