MATCH REPORT

Another long trip, another good ground, & a great day for footy. There was a bit of early panic when the umpire told us the jumpers clashed too much, those Knox Lions jumpers were a little average after the 50’s used them! It didn’t affect our 1st quarter though…. no need to build up a sweat…. the jumpers had that already. Our half back line was strong, with Tony, Sammy & the Rev down there. They rebounded often, allowing Magoo a good mark & goal. Ange was instrumental in setting up 2 of our goals for the quarter. Mark Strange was in uncharted territory, up forward. He was able to take a mark in the square, & goal from a position where even a backman couldn’t miss. Pogsy, who was quiet early, finished off the quarter running in for a goal. Magoo gave him space & Pogs, deciding against “the Torp” option, slotted a goal to bring us level with Peninsula. I think I heard Pinga yelling “Drop kick” from the boundary.

Even though we had scored OK in the first, we had not used our new options through the centre, well. In the second quarter we started to look for Motty. Motty is a creative player who helps us set up our forward moves and we got the ball forward often, but wasted our efforts against the wind.  Peninsula were consistent, kicking 3 more goals to our score of points only. If not for the good work of Rowdy & Bear down back, it could have been more.  We improved in the third quarter. This was personified by Micky Morse, who admitted to me he was having a bad day, on a trip to the bench. I suggested he could, start a new, when he went back on. As soon as he hit the ground he had taken a mark & been involved in a number of plays. Pogsy too showed he could change his outlook. I moved him onto the ball, where he immediately had an impact, going on to be one of our best. A nasty clash occurred on the wing, midway through the quarter. Paigey, running back bravely for the mark, ran into the brick wall of Ange & his opponent. After initially being stunned, Paigey refused to come to the bench. We managed to give him a rest eventually.

Once again we had let ourselves down with one quarter of football, the second! We played out the game bravely, but lost Ange to a hammy & Lamby to a “long drive” to his next game. Sammy was everywhere, Motty & Pogs were great and Tony was good off half back. Dave Stephens gave Stretch a rest from the ruck & played well, even taking on clearances himself. Rowdy played one of the best games I’ve seen him play! We played a good half of football, but did not deliver the ball to the right spots up forward at times. In the end the scores were much the same as they were at half time.

I’ve talked about the basics, getting the ball to boot or hand properly, so you don’t crucify your mates down field. Taking the easy marks, don’t drop a sitter! I’ve talked about keeping the ball away from the dangerous areas of the ground; don’t switch to a contest; in the back line move the ball along the boundaries unless you have a definite switch option. We seemed to sort out our linking through the centre on Sunday, but probably need to think about where we deliver the ball into the forward line in future. Look to have an option for the centring kick. Lastly we need to think about our 1% plays. The chasing pressure, the shepherding, blocking & hard running to space to make an option.

We can improve!

Report By Coach Dermie