Football Round 9 Summaries
Seniors
Gisborne 21.19-145 def Castlemaine 2.9-21
The Castlemaine Magpies made the trip to Gardiner to meet the Gisborne Dogs in near perfect conditions on Saturday. The Gisborne boys were up for the challenge from the Magpies who were coming off a narrow one point loss the week before, against South Bendigo.
The Dogs got off to a steady start in the first term with Tom May marking strongly in the forward line and kicking some nice goals. The Gisborne defence was holding up well only allowing Castlemaine to kick one solitary point for the quarter and the dogs went in at the first break with a handy 17 points lead.
At the eleven minute mark of the second term Tom May took a terrific one-on-one mark and kicked accurately to stretch the gap to 24 points. Only minutes later, and in the best piece of team play for the day, he was on the end of a chain of handballs and again was able to finish with a goal from 40 meters out. Soon after, Harrison Huntley, Matt Knox and Eamon McKenna all goaled to take the margin out to 49 points at half time.
The third quarter did not reach great heights as Castlemaine flooded the Gisborne forward line in an effort to stem the bleeding. As a result just one goal was scored in the first 19 minutes of play however the Dogs kept attacking and in time-on managed to post 3 majors and stretch the lead to 74 points at 3 quarter time.
In a massive final term onslaught, the Dog's booted 8 goals to 1 to run out winners to the tune of 124 points.
"We had to get that win and now we go to halfway knowing exactly where we are at and we're starting to build," said Gisborne coach Kevin Fitzgerald. "We were always trying to open it up and as they got tired it was harder for them (Castlemaine) to close the game down."
Throughout the day Matt Knox thrilled the crowd with several one grab marks while skipper Casey Summerfield led the on ball brigade winning a lot of contested ball. Out on the wing, Dan Weaver continued his stellar form for the season and Tim Walsh and Hamish Govan were fantastic in defence, repelling every attack that the Pies could muster. Tom May also finished with five goals for the day despite being sidelined for a good deal of the second half and U18 captain Josh Govan acquitted himself well in his first taste of senior footy.
Goal Kickers: T. May 5, H. Huntley 4, M. Knox 2, P. Fitzgerald 2, C. Summerfield, L. Crosbie, E. Minns, J. Govan, S. Walsh, E. McKenna, C.Illman, A. Belcher
Best Players: M. Knox, C. Summerfield, H. Govan, T. Walsh, T. May, D. Weaver
Reserves.
Gisborne 19.18 – 132 def Castlemaine 3.2 – 20
In the first quarter Gisborne took control early with Neil Johnson and Jarrod Vernon prominent. At the first change they had established a 3 goal lead and but for some inaccurate kicking the margin could have been a lot more.
A dominant display in the second term saw the Dogs not allowing Castlemaine any use of the footy and as a result went into the long break with a 10 goal lead. Aaron Bates was having a fine game as was Michael Steinbach who was prominent at the stoppages. In his first game for some time it was great to see Luke Saunders in the Gisborne colors once again and controlling proceedings across half back.
In the third term, the Gisborne outfit continued to monster their Castlemaine opponents with Lachie O’Gorman and Rory Comerford racking up the possessions. The scoreboard pressure continued to mount on the Pies as Gisborne piled on a further 6 goals for the term while Castlemaine were unable to register a score.
In the last stanza, Luke Burgess continued on with his good form for the season and in an excellent all round team effort the Dogs went on to chalk up an impressive 132 to 20 point victory.
Goal Kickers – L. O’Gorman 4, N. Johnson 3, J. Vernon 3, T. Hynson 2, T. Bannan 2, A. Headberry, J.Duff-Tyler, L. McKenna, T. Thorogood, J.Collins.
Best Players– A. Bates, L. O’Gorman, M. Steinbach, R. Comerford, N. Johnson, L. Burgess.
Under 18’s.
Gisborne 16:6 102 Def Strathfieldsaye 6:5 41
In what loomed as a dangerous away game against fourth placed Strathfieldsaye Storm at Kangaroo Flat, the Gisborne Doggies showed from the start that they meant business posting 4 goals to nil in the first quarter and although the Storm fought back in the second term, the young Dogs managed to kick another 2 majors to go into the long break with a handy two goal lead.
The boys in the midfield were ably steered by Liam Rodgers and Ollie Clough in the absence of "General Josh Govan" who had been promoted to play his first senior game and again Isaac Trickey and Pat Trotta were good off half back as were BJ Calvert and Rob Andrews on the full back line.
Danny Glenister was also in fine touch, putting on a dominant display at Centre Half Back taking grabs, creating pressure around the contest and repeatedly pumping the ball back deep into the Doggies forward zone.
After the long break the Gisborne boys upped the ante and applied tremendous pressure to the Storm players all over the ground and this pressure also reflected on the scoreboard as the Gisborne forwards took control. Skipper Pat McKenna put on a show after declaring himself fit to play despite an injured right ankle, and subsequently kicked 7 majors using his non preferred left foot in what was a stunning display of forward football.
The coaching staff praised the pressure and intent that was shown by the young Dogs around the contest, as this was what ultimately led to their 61 point victory, however were quick to mention that all focus must now go into the match against Kyneton and thus ensure that we secure the 4 points that are on offer in that game.
Goal Kickers - McKenna 7, Wood 2, Bond 2, Scales, Mallia, Doricic, Crosbie, Lamplugh.
Best Players - Rodgers, Glenister, Clough, Trickey, Trotta, McKenna.
Netball
This week, the Gisborne girls took on Castlemaine at home and it was a great feeling it was to come away with five wins.
U/17.
The day started off with the U/17 girls “kicking the dew off the grass” as they say in football parlance. Both teams played hard and fast in the first quarter with both teams missing easy goals. Gisborne missed 10 and Castlemaine 3 and with both teams on 7 goals apiece going into the second quarter, it was going to come down to whoever was the most accurate with their shooting. Gisborne went into the main break with a one goal lead and the scoreboard showing a score line of 17-16. After half time and stern talking to by the coach, the girls came out with a different attitude and started to play their own game and it paid off for the rest of the game as they eventually ran out winners by 9 points.
B.Res.
This was one of the closest games of the day. The girls needed a win to boost their confidence and they never let themselves down. From the very first quarter every girl worked hard and played their part giving everything they had. They chased down every ball and never missed a beat. Going into the last quarter the girls had a 6 goal lead and they must have thought that was enough to win by but Castlemaine had other ideas as they put up twenty one goals to our thirteen. Luckily, 10 were in accurate and our defenders grabbed every rebound and sent the ball back down the court. At the siren, the final score read Gisborne 43 – Castlemaine 40 and the result was a good team effort.
B. Grade.
The girls needed this game to keep their finals hopes alive.
For the first half, both teams were fairly even with Gisborne holding a slender lead of 18-17 at half time. During the third quarter the girls kept working hard but were unable to shake a determined Castlemaine off however they saved their best till the last quarter and outscored the Castlemaine team by 5 to run out winners with a final score of 38-30.
A.Res.
This was the other close game for the day and there could have been an upset. The Gisborne girls started off slowly and gave Castlemaine a 2 goal lead at the first break. In the 2nd quarter the defenders stopped just about everything and sent the ball back down court for the goalers to finish off and by half time, Gisborne had gained back the lead back with the scoreboard reading Gisborne 13 to Castlemaine 10. After the long break the Gisborne outfit got their pace up and increased their lead to 5. During a frantic last quarter the girls nearly let the game slip away from them as Castlemaine charged home. To the Gisborne girl’s credit, they fought it out to the end and the final score registered a victory to Gisborne 30-28.
A.Grade.
The Gisborne girls knew this was going to be a hard game and did not to take it lightly. Everyone knew that Castlemaine’s confidence would be high after they had previously pushed some of the top teams to the limit. From the first whistle, the Gisborne team had to work hard and by the first break had gained a 4 goal lead. The girls then increased this lead by 8 in the second quarter and at half time the score line read Gisborne 24 to Castlemaine 16. During the third quarter a few changes had to be made with one of the Gisborne girls taking ill after which it tooka few minutes for the team to settle back into their rhythm. Castlemaine took advantage of this and closed the gap. In the meantime a couple of the Gisborne girls took some skids on the asphalt and let me tell you, they did not bounce. Ellie, the Gisborne trainer, had her work cut out trying to stem the flow of blood but thanks to some help from Alicia and Amanda and plenty of tape, Ellie was able to keep the girls on the court and Gisborne were able to maintain a 33 to 27 score line at quarters’ end. Despite all the drama that had taken place, the girls regrouped and played good netball in the last quarter to eventually run out comfortable winners. The final score was Gisborne 44 to Castlemaine 35 and it was an entertaining game of netball to watch.