The Pumas 16s had their first home game of 2013 (other than an early season practice match) up against Coorparoo, fresh from a 98 point win the previous week. In 2012 Coorparoo won the Under 14 Division 1 premiership, and with by my count 10 of these boys in the line-up they would be a tough team to play. The weather was kind to us, it was a beautiful day but at 9am it was still a bit dewy on the ground which as it turned out I think worked in our favour early.
Rhys led us out for the second time in 2 weeks in the absence of skipper Matt and we kicked to the coaches box end of the ground. The ball was slippery early as it was quite dewy and this meant lots of contests. I think this helped us for the first 10 minutes or so because we were generally a bit bigger than Coorparoo and so we were able to win our share of footy from those contests. We kicked the first couple, the first a long range goal from Rhys that went over the top of the pack and slid through thanks to the damp surface, and could have had a couple more if not for some missed opportunities. Jack Leahy was already starting to cause some headaches with some strong leading and sure hands and our midfielders were creating plenty of chances. Against the run of play Coorparoo snuck in for one and all of a sudden their confidence began to lift. We kept peppering away at goals without success and this left the door open for our opponents who snuck in another right on the siren. Our return of 2-7 meant that we didn’t turn our dominance into scoreboard pressure and Coorparoo were right in the contest.
Unfortunately we lost skipper Rhys for the rest of the game at quarter time as he succumbed to a badly corked calf so we had to restructure a bit. Brighton went to Centre Half Back and immediately started to have an impact on the game as he has so often done this year. It was a goal for goal quarter but they won it by one to only trail us by a point at the main break. We were dropping like flies, Jack Taylor copped a heavy bump and couldn’t take any further part in the game due to what looks like some jaw and teeth damage (fingers crossed for some good news there, still waiting to hear) and then not long after new lad Jayden limped off with a knee injury. Down to just one on the bench for the second half. What to do?
Fortunately for us that player on the bench was vice captain Jared and whilst it was our intention not to play him if at all possible due to Bushies commitments (I hope they aren’t reading this) but we were short and we didn’t have much choice. His impact was immediate, all of a sudden we had another big marking target up forward, along with Jack and Brandon, and he didn’t disappoint. He kicked a couple for the quarter, had a hand in another couple and the end result was a 5 goal to zip 3rd quarter that pretty much put the game firmly in our grasp. Special mention too to Jack Leahy who was absolutely on fire in this quarter, his strong leads and strong hands resulted in a couple to him (4 for the match to date) and it really helped swing the game. You could see Jack’s confidence rising every time he touched the footy and it’s great to see from such a good kid and such a hard worker, well done Jack.
What really pleased me about this quarter was the way we responded to events of the second quarter. Not just the injuries but the mere fact that the drying ball and ground was really starting to suit Coorparoo as their skill level was really on show, and it must be said a little bit further advanced than ours. They were really running hard and rarely missing targets and we were in real danger of getting run over. Uncontested possessions was a thing that was hurting us but to the boys credit they tightened up in the 3rd quarter and worked harder and that gave us opportunities to score, which Jack and Jared did so well. Great to see some of our centre bounce work starting to pay dividends too, Jack Mackey, Lachy, Liam, Mitch, Ryan, Jayden starting to get to know each other and where to run and when to tackle, block etc. That first possession out of the middle made it possible for our forwards to do the finishing work. Down back Adam, Jack Rogers and Brighton continued to make life tough for their opponents, there were no easy kicks down there.
Up by 31 at the last change we took Jared off after his 3rd goal early in the last but the forwards still kept presenting (another one for Jack), the midfielders kept working hard and our defence held firm and we ran out winners by a very solid 40 points. Good rendition of the song even though a few boys don’t know the words yet. Felt good for Jack Rogers who after 20 games now finally won one! Well done mate. So a happy bunch and fair enough it was well deserved, especially after a couple of big defeats in the last couple of weeks. Great to see the boys working really hard on some specific areas we targeted for improvement and seeing the reward for that effort. Still much to do though so remember that, it’s a long season and there is still much to learn and improve on, let’s not get carried away. After our win first up against Redcliffe we had 2 heavyish losses so take nothing for granted, we haven’t done anything yet.
Final scores Springwood 12-13-85 def Coorparoo 7-3-45
Goal kickers Jack Leahy 5, Jared Denny 3, Brandon Lynch 2, Rhys Bernhagen 1 and Lachy Willaton 1
Best players: Certainly a team effort as everyone contributed but will mention again Jack Leahy’s forward work and also Ryan Davies who rucked all day pretty much and just kept going all day. I was also genuinely pleased to see Jake Keeble and Caleb Kennedy really start to show that they can play with easily their best games for the year. Well done everyone.
Big thanks also to all our parent and player helpers and contributors on the day, well done ladies and gents your efforts are greatly appreciated, you are all awesome.
At the time of writing no decisions have been made on grading and what final division we end up in. There is a meeting tonight apparently and so we should know sometime tomorrow. So at this stage I have no idea who, where and what time we are playing this week but will let everyone know via Facebook as soon as I do.
Cheers
Steve
PS Please remember Wednesday night after training a meeting for 15 minutes for all players and parents. Thanks kindly.
Last Modified on 06/05/2013 15:51