For the second weekend running, the Hawks came out on the wrong side of the ledger. We’ll be looking to turn our fortunes around today. We welcome our visitors from Finley, in particularly members of both the Barooga and Finley 1950 MFL Second XVIII Sunday Competition Grand Finalists. This will be the 60 year reunion of what was a drawn grand final, and the Hawks winning the replay. Make sure you say g’day to these past champions. Great to have you all here today. Hope today’s game brings back a few memories!
Seniors
Barooga’s horror start to the season continued on last Saturday, when they gallantly went down to a fast-finishing Deni Rams’ side by 16 points.
In a game of two halves, it was the Hawks who took the early ascendency. In sleeting rain, Barooga came out firing in the first quarter, using the ball effectively by both hand and foot. This made the Rams look flat-footed and the Hawks were able to establish a commanding 4 goal lead at the first break. The second quarter tightened up, with both sides playing accountable football. Deni had a couple of chances to close the gap but were shut down by some dour Barooga defence. As the half-time siren sounded, the Hawks still maintained a healthy advantage by 25 points. After the long break, the rain clouds disappeared, the sun came out, and a whole new scenario began to unravel. The Hawks kicked the first two goals of the quarter and were all over the Rams like a bad rash. This kicked their lead out to what was mounting as an unassailable 6 goal buffer. Almost on the sun presenting itself, the tide of the game swung full circle into the Rams’ favour. Uncharacteristic errors from the Barooga players and some inconsistencies in other areas saw Deni work their way back into the game. Slowly but surely, they whittled the Hawks’ lead away and had all the momentum at the final change, trailing by only 10 points. The start of the last was of high-intensity, with both sides realising that there was a chance of victory. A quick goal by the Rams was counter-acted by the Hawks almost immediately, keeping the 10 point buffer in Barooga’s advantage. From the ensuing centre bounce, it became all one way traffic, with the Deniliquin midfield finding a second wind. Coming home with a wet sail, the Rams capped off another frustrating game with a 16 point victory.
This was a disappointing end to an otherwise solid performance from the Hawks, who now face another tough task this week in the form of an improving Finley outfit. Better players on the day were Bernard Price, who typified the Anzac spirit. Josh McGaw tried hard as did Matt Hyde, who ran himself into exhaustion. Hendo never took a backward step in his colossal task, Michael Sumner is starting to string consistent efforts together, Ryan Forsyth gave his all down back and Tom Crapp was again a solid contributor.
In other results, the Reserves went down courageously by 14 points. The boys had a red hot go and barring a bad 8 minute patch in the 3rd, they gave it everything they had. It was a much improved effort. Better players on the day were Flanno, Jamie Nye, Knuckles, Jigga Brooks, Trav Nye and Conor Ryan.
The U17s copped an 81 point defeat at the hands of the Rams. The boys were competitive for a half but then fell away and found it hard to score. Ben Sim continued his excellent form and he was well supported by Tom Butler, Brendan Jack, Jake Russell, Pete Connors and Mitch Sim. Congratulations to the Riley Brooks, who brought up his 100th Club game and Pete Connors for notching up his 50th U17s game.
The U14s faired only marginally worse than the 17s, going down by 82 points. It was a pretty similar game where the Hawks were competitive for a half before falling away. Cal Leighton-Daly was magnificent all day, Hary Foster and Caleb Brooks continued their consistent seasons, and Jake Jenkins, Tom Creenaune and Ethan Leighton-Daly all chimed in with terrific efforts.
In the netball matches, the scores indicated some highly contested games, where the C Grade, C Reserve and U12 teams came away as victors.
12 Under
Every week at training and game day you do what you are asked and this is showing in your games, making the coach very happy. Keep up the fantastic work! Phoebe Noble won the Cobram Rural Centre Award after great determination and hard work today. Barooga 17 def Deni 5.
13 & Under
Played a good game but Deni were too strong. Everyone tried their hardest and that’s all we can ask for. Keep listening to Nikki at training and look for a win against Finley. Barooga 10 lost to Deni 34. Award :
15 & Under
These girls have been working very hard at training under Caitlin and Jess. A win is just around the corner girls so keep working hard and listen carefully. Barooga 5 lost to Deni 23. Award:
17 & Under
Back to the drawing board for next week's game against Finley. Let's work hard as a team at training and try and turn that score around. Barooga 8 lost to Deni 56. Award:
C Res
Fantastic tight game girls. You stuck to your guns and came away with a win. Great work all over the court. Keep up the great team work. Barooga 26 narrowly defeated Deni 24. Award:
C Grade
Finally did what coach Nikki has been asking us to do. We played 4 solid quarters of netball. Jack and Han were on fire in the goal ring and rewarded their team-mates with goals after great intercepts. Kelly Wright won the Barooga Pub award. Barooga 44 def Deni 28.
B Grade
You girls love close games and keeping everyone on the edge of their seats. Caitlin goaled fantastic and the defence worked hard. Could of gone our way but didn’t. Barooga 29 was narrowly defeated by Deni 30.
A Grade
A huge thank you to the girls that stood up and made themselves available, due to unavailabilities. The scores were even in the third quarter but the girls couldn’t quite get it over the line. Fantastic effort from everyone. Barooga 26 lost to Deni 31.
Tonight we have dinner and a Wig/Karaoke night at the Barooga Pub.
Let’s show the 1950 Premiership side that what they achieved has been inspiration for what we are going to do!!