Saturday May 3, the Queensland Under 18 side played the Sandringham Dragons in our second TAC Cup game for the season.
The game was played at Bond University on the Gold Coast, so we were hoping for a hot, dry track which would suit our style of play and test the travelling Victorians.
However, the footy gods had other ideas with cold and soggy conditions greeting us upon arrival.
Even before the first bounce the Dragons brought plenty of physical pressure as they tried to assert their authority over our boys to ensure there would be a bit of heat in the contest.
In a promising first quarter we dominated possession however were unable to convert this into scoreboard pressure as scores were pretty much even heading into the first change.
Frustratingly, we were unable to maintain this momentum and were outplayed in the second quarter as Sandringham opened up a four goal lead.
After regrouping at half time we showed great spirit, coming out and matching the opposition for the remainder of the game.?
The game was played in tight with countless stoppages, particularly as the game wore on.
Overage player, Matthew Ubergang provided a powerful performance in unfavourable conditions for tall forwards, with only inaccurate kicking preventing him from snagging a bag of goals.
Hayden Bertoli-Simmonds, another overage player, was quality on the wing while Jacob Watson kept the statisticians busy, gathering 25 disposals from a half back flank.?
Personally, I had a sub-par performance, which was particularly frustrating given I didn’t play well the week prior for the Lions Reserves either.
While I can’t get too concerned over this, I will be doing some extras this week so I can confidently say I’ve done all that I can to prepare for this weekend’s game.
Overall, we were disappointed as a group as we felt our second quarter lapse really let us down, just as a drop off in intensity in the fourth quarter against Oakleigh hurt us a few weeks back.
This week the focus is on upping our physicality (we did some boxing last night to get the boys firing) and ensuring we use our width when exiting from a stoppage.?
Next up we travel to Gippsland on Saturday May 10 for a light training run before our game on Sunday versus the Gippsland Power.
Stevo’s sayings: "If everyone did what I was about to do, would the team be better or worse off?"
Last Modified on 24/09/2014 11:02