Another grading game done and dusted, unfortunately not as good a result as our first round win against Ferny Grove. This time it was Kenmore and even before the game looking through their list I knew it was going to be a much tougher game, quite a few names on the list in the Taipans squad and while they only had 18 they would prove to be a very good 18. We went in with 22, thanks to a bye given to our Gold team and that was a good thing in some ways as it gave us a wonderful opportunity to play some boys up a level or two and see how they went. With so many numbers available it was easy to fill the shoes left by the injured Jordan Bacic, Jayden Bobbermen Sek and Rhys Bernhagen.
Kenmore and Springwood 16s have played many times over the years, 2009 noteworthy for a drawn Div 2 Grand Final and then a one point win to Kenmore in the replay. 2010 both teams in the inaugural McDonalds Cup Div 1 comp saw Springwood victorious on both occasions by good margins. Back to Div 2 last year and it was Kenmore who turned the tables with two comfortable wins. It would be interesting to see how we would match up in 2012, my guess pre game was that we would be a lot more competitive than what we were last year, and to a certain degree that’s what happened.
After a good start by us where we led by 10 at ¼ time Kenmore really lifted and outplayed us purely and simply for the next 3 quarters to run out 27 point winners, which could have been more had they kicked straight. The reasons for the loss were many but after a chat with the boys on Monday night here are some of the reasons:
1/ Our enthusiasm fell away once Kenmore started to get on top, as a result heads started to drop, negativity crept in and we no longer were willing to do the hard work.
2/ We got a bit undisciplined due to some frustration and also, I believe, due to the negativity that had crept in.
3/ Our tackle count fell away markedly, 34 in the first half and only 12 in the second. This was due to point 1, above.
4/ We became second to the ball and weren’t prepared to run hard enough to a/ get into good attacking positions and b/ cover our opponents defensively. Kenmore were very good at this.
5/ We did have some good players sitting on the sidelines and as a result brought up some boys who hadn’t played footy at this level before. I was impressed at the way they all went about it and that is a huge positive for us.
6/ We continued our grading game policy of switching players around and rotating everyone on and off the bench to give every single player an opportunity to show what he could do. Often we had our best players on the bench but we knew beforehand we were going to do this. The upside to that is that some “fringe” players got some really good game time against a very good opposition and would have learned a lot from it.
So the message is simple, heads up boys it’s only grading and whilst there is plenty to improve on from Sunday (as noted above) there are also some other contributing factors, outside of your control, that played it’s part. I am really confident, and so should you be, that when we meet them again throughout the year it will be a different Pumas team.
Great signs on Monday night at training with plenty of enthusiasm and that shows me that you have already put this minor setback behind you. Well done.
Final scores Kenmore 8-16-54 d Springwood 5-7-37
Best players, no doubt Reece Adams in the last line of defence was awesome for every minute he was on the ground, Jacob Mitchell battled hard all day, as did Aiden Dipietro. Jack Darby was very good in the first half particularly, Alee too in the middle of the ground gave us some great drive. Mitch Hurley was solid down back and Lincoln Opbroek did some good things in about 6 different positions. I was pleased with Tristen Newcomb’s game down back and also Matty Iervese when he went down there. A few others contributed here and there but I have no doubt some boys would be a little bit disappointed with their overall impact on the game.
Everton this week back at Everton again for the third time. A 9.00am start so be up there fresh at 8, white shorts.
The Gold team are back this week and they are at Beenleigh, also at 9, against Beenleigh Cobras. Please be there at 8 also.
At present we have 35 available plus 3 (I think) Under 14 boys, that gives us 38. As we did in the first game we will just split the squad into 2 and have 19 each. It means that some boys that played with Navy last week will go back to Gold this week. No one has been dropped! We simply need to make sure both teams have enough players so some boys have to go back to help out.
Cheers
Steve
Last Modified on 18/04/2012 11:57