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MATCH REPORT

Great ground, but not a great day! What I thought may be clearing rain, turned out to be continual drizzle. It helped to keep the ball greasy all the first half. The old VFA Camberwell sports ground was a welcome change from the old dog track we have played on previously though. 

We started OK this game. The score was actually very tight till half time, proving that if we play team footy we are going to get better. Damo on the wing gets better each week. There was a great passage of play where, we on the bench, thinking that he had been sucked too far into our forward 50 tried to call him back. Sth Yarra gained possession and kicked it over his head to their wingman, Damo’s man! To our surprise Damo sprinted back & took his man out with a big bump, sitting him nicely on his ass. Damo got a quick handball to Sammy and the Switch to Pogsy, on the other side of the 50, was on. Sammy’s kick was perfect & Pogsy drove us deep forward. “Stretch” was rucking well. Again this week he was also getting the ball off the carpet, his tap to Neil, who was strong in defence all half, clearing the ball for us. 

We were missing some of our best players from previous weeks in Motty, Mark Strange & Mitch.  The team changes don’t help, but in the first half it didn’t matter too much. Damo tackled hard, Nicko did the team thing with a strong shepherd and what unfolded was a passage of play that made it worth coming to watch. Neil out of defence again got the ball to “Stretch”, who saw Ange out of the corner of his eye. Quick thinking had the ball in Ange’s hands as he ran round the boundary. Did he take a quick look in Mitch’s direction…. before he slotted the goal of the day?

I have a feeling Pinga wanted that title too! Another great passage of play had Pinga taking a strong mark on the goal line. Just what I had asked him to do! Stay deep and let Magoo lead I had said. As he lined up for goal I looked away, just for a brief moment….. just too long for me to miss the chance to scream Noooooo! I looked up to see the ball hit the left hand goal post. “What happened I asked?” Super goal attempt I was told. Eddie, I hope you have a good award for Pinga at seasons end. Pinga, not the thing to do in a close match on a wet day.

We were confident at half time that we could put ourselves in the box seat for the last quarter. We had played a good half, we were going to get even better. The best made plans….Our structure deserted us in the second half. We were sucked into every contest, no one spreading for the release. No one? Well, Sth Yarra were there. They moved the ball forward dangerously because they had the link players in the right places. When we counter attacked, they had the loose player to take the ball unopposed & steady a pass to their forwards.

The last quarter we pushed hard. The defence of Tony, Lamby, Rowdy & Bear pushed the ball forward relentlessly, only to kick to the opposition, or into a crowded forward line. We had our chances, a missed shot from the boundary from Sammy, a missed set shot from Dave Stephens, one from Magoo too. The Pogs was vocal in the second half, but quiet after trying to emulate Malcolm Blight, kicking a torpedo on the run for goal. I’ll give you “miss of the day” for that one Pogsy! 

Boys, a football field has positions, which will give you an idea where you should be playing. We need to look around, just like in our circle work at training, and fill the gaps when we get the ball.  Without the link men we can’t transition out of defence. Without some work on our basic skill, kicking, we will continue to struggle. Everyone can run around & look good at training, but it’s the guys who think, who are the ones who look good in a game! My thought when playing was that I should always try to improve, every week, every year, no matter that I was getting older. You all have a chance to think about how you can improve as a player, and as a team!

Report By coach Dermie