Division 3, Bendigo vs Altona at Altona, 26/5/18.
Solid blue sky and the promise of plenty of sunshine on the solar panels made for a nice, relaxed morning and a pleasant drive to the big smoke, last Saturday. The Lynch Reserve at Altona was in great condition and we got ready to play in cool shade under the trees alongside the ground, while a Division 2 match finished up. While I was pulling on my vintage gear, a bloke from Chadstone asked me how old I was and I told him and he was gobsmacked that I was still playing. I pointed at Ian and said, “Well, he’s even older…..”
Altona lined up with 12 players, while Bendigo started with 13.
The game began fairly slowly, and even with the Warhawk centres, Russ Crofts and Brett Ruiz having dominant control of the centre and good movement forward by middies, Bendigo’s stick work let them down early on and there were way too many easy turnovers. However, despite that, the Warhawks managed two goals, one via Ian Lock, and another through an elegant piece of dodging and a good shot from Alex Orr. Altona tended to be able to keep the ball longer up front, but with many young players in their forward line, there was some reserve about taking on the imposing Bendigo backline, and they were unable to score for the quarter. Transition from the Bendigo defence into their attack also proved progressively more straightforward, as it became obvious that one Warhawk forward was always going to be left to roam free by a fairly immobile Altona back man. 2 – 0 at quarter time.
In the second quarter, Altona were able to score twice, with a couple of their players risking the bigger frames and long sticks and beating Warhawk defenders with pace. At the other end of the ground, the Warhawks stepped up proceedings, and began to piece together good play. Ian Lock scored twice, once from a great cut from behind and a carefully measured pass from John Webb, the other from a trademark individual dodge. Lastly, John Webb capitalised on an Altona defender’s handling error in front of goal and beat the goalie with accuracy, that many had begun to think had permanently deserted him. We went to the long break with the score on 5 to 2.
The third term saw more-confident Altona forward play rewarded twice for the quarter, while the Warhawks stepped up proceedings to score four times, once from Ian Lock, twice from Alex Orr and also a Mike Bell “Special”: a bullocking run out of defence, with him repelling all attempts to defend and ignoring all entreaties to pass off, and finally unleashing a great bounce shot to take the Warhawks to a comfortable lead of 9 to 4 at the last break.
During the last term, the speed and youth of Altona began to tell and they looked much more dangerous in attack against a tiring Bendigo. However, the scoring was evenly shared, with Altona slotting 2 and Bendigo the same with another Mike Bell goal-to-goal solo effort and also a clash of giants; with Russ Crofts dropping a shoulder and becoming the unstoppable force to the immovable object of the biggest Altona defender, and winning out with a sharp, round-arm shot at the end.
The final whistle blew with Bendigo winners 11 – 6. It was a great game, with both teams very much in the better spirit of Division 3: swift juniors getting their first taste of senior lacrosse, old guys seeing out careers and new boys learning the game. Altona is always a good clubroom to stick around for a drink after a game as well.
I should also mention that Dylan LeClercq and Jordan O’Meara have been showing great improvement in the early stages of this season, and credit where it’s due, they are regulars at training and their stick work is really coming on and they are proving to be valuable members of our midfield line. Good on you, lads.
Votes were awarded as follows: 3 club and 2 Association votes to Gino Iuliano for a great day in the goal (and a fair bit of time rampaging out of the goal as well); 2 club votes and one Association vote went to Ian Lock for his consistent ability to disturb the goal net with a ball, and one club vote went to Alex Orr (I’ve run out of superlatives, sorry).
Thanks again to Lester Young for reffing, and to the Altona club for kindly providing a scorer for us (though I suspect that the complete absence of assists on our side of the score-sheet might be the price we pay for not providing our own).
We play back at Maiden Gully next Saturday, against Williamstown. I’ll see you Thursday, but let’s try to get as many as possible to both trainings.
In other news:
The Bendigo junior players who are currently getting experience with other clubs were all successful this weekend, giving the Bendigo club a clean sweep:
The Warhawk girls who have been travelling to make up a team with MCC enjoyed a victory on Sunday, with an 11 – 8 win over Footscray. Well done! Apparently our girls have been doing very well, according to Gino, and only narrowly missed a few chances to score.
At Brunswick, Will Kenny helped an U17 team to an easy victory over Uni Blues 7 – 1, with Will jagging a goal himself. The U13 Brunswick team also benefitted from the regional influence with Christian Iuliano contributing three goals, and Matt Saxon one to the total to beat Footscray 9 – 5. Well done to those boys, and Gino reckoned they also missed a few opportunities and could easily have shot plenty more. We look forward to seeing you get a few with Bendigo in the near future.
Onwards and upwards!
John Webb
Senior Player
Last Modified on 28/05/2018 09:52