Game 1 Sunday was a bright and early 9am start over at Ferny Grove for 16s Navy. There wasn’t much riding on this last game of the home and away season for us as we couldn’t get knocked out of top spot but Ferny Grove had a bit to play for. They were level on the bottom of the table with Aspley and a win could have seen them avoid the wooden spoon. Also, as the Falcons don’t have an under 18 team many of their boys would be playing their last game in the green and white, so there was motivation there for them. For us it was about playing some good footy to take into finals next week, giving some boys an opportunity to put their hand up and also hoping like crazy that we could get through the game unscathed and with a fully fit squad to choose from to play Everton.
The lead up to the start of the game was the worst I have seen all year. 4 players were still not at the ground as we went out to do our warm up and most of the rest that were there certainly didn’t have their minds on playing a game of footy. The warm up itself was lacklustre and this didn’t bode well for what lay ahead. Fortunately, as I am many times, I was wrong. I gave the boys a bit of a bake about their pre-game preparation but right from the first bounce they flicked the switch on and dominated from start to finish. Not really too much to write about other than it was a very, very good 4 quarter performance that never gave the Falcons boys a look in. We dominated all around the ground and very pleasingly worked really hard on implementing the strategies that we have been talking about over the last few weeks. Just as happy to report that there were no injuries out of the game so at the time of writing we have a fully fit squad of 25 to choose from for week 1 of the finals. Anyone who has been involved with Under 16s knows that can change quickly with a whole week of misadventures ahead but certainly a good start to our finals campaign.
The best players for the game were many but certainly Jordy Bacic and Callum Eddy dominated the midfield and up forward, Dan Willaton was a great target up forward, Rhys Bernhagen controlled our defensive unit and great to see good contributions from a couple of our younger brigade in Ryan Davies and Lachy Willaton. Jack Darby showed some good run out on his wing and as always Lincoln Opbroek, Nate Murcutt and Aidan Dipietro were busy around the ground. Everyone chipped in and did their bit and that’s a great sign for the weeks ahead.
Final scores Springwood 19-20-134 defeated Ferny Grove 3-0-18
Goalkickers: Dan Willaton 5, Jordan Bacic 5, Lachlan Willaton 3, Jack Darby 2, Jacob Mitchell 1, Jack Leahy 1, Hayden Day 1, Ben O’Sullivan 1
Finals footy is here and it is a really exciting time so really looking forward to the challenges ahead. Well done boys on finishing on top but the real hard work starts now.
Unfortunately not as great news for Gold as they had a tough encounter with Sandgate, a team needing to win to hold on to 2nd spot and a double chance and also the team that beat us by 193 points not that long ago. A few boys opted not to double up from the Navy game, a move that I supported and have no problem with as they wanted to keep themselves in good nick for Navy’s finals campaign. Alee and Omar were also late withdrawals and that didn’t help as they have been 2 of Gold’s best players lately. Some boys however did decide to play again and to those boys I say well done again, that’s great Puma spirit right there. We had only 20 available and thanks to Liam Eddy and Mitch Osland from the 14s who ran out and gave us a hand. As kind of expected Sandgate were just too good for us and won the game very comfortably. The good news is that we improved on our last game against them by 10 goals, so that’s something and we actually won a quarter, the 3rd, where we kicked 2-3 to 2-1 (after a 9 goal to zip 2nd quarter against us) to show some great spirit and skill. Great to see Jayden Ruscoe back out there too after a 3 month rest with a broken collarbone, it was only the one game but he got through it and so well done Jayden.
Final scores Sandgate 23-18-156 def Springwood Gold 3-5-23
Best players, Tristen Newcombe (great to see some potential coming through there Tristen), Ben McDonald, Brighton Page, Lachy Willaton, Brock Meredith, Alex Smith and as always the Hackett boys, Ethan and Kayne who I can’t tell apart so it’s either one of them totally dominating or the 2 of them both playing well.
Overall as disappointing as it was to not win a game for the whole year our last month has been fantastic. There has been genuine improvement all over the ground as boys start to realise how to play the game and gain in confidence in themselves and their team mates. As most of the Gold boys are first year 16s the experience will be invaluable next year when they become top age players and the backbone of the 16s team. Thanks boys for all your efforts throughout the year and thanks for not getting disillusioned with the game and giving it away, you hung in there and it very nearly paid off but oh well that’s footy and we look forward to next year. Thanks also to Gary Voss for all his work with the boys during the year and also to Mel Vanderkolk for all her efforts as Team Manager, much appreciated guys. A big thanks also to all the helpers during the season, you know who you are and you are all awesome, thanks again.
Remember boys you are still more than welcome to come down and keep training through Navy’s finals campaign over the next hopefully 3 weeks, you are all part of the 16s group and these are your finals too.
Cheers
Steve
Last Modified on 20/08/2012 13:16