The Mitcham Junior Football Club was involved in Round 8 action over the weekend and below are the match reports from all the games.
Mitcham Black Under 8 – Coach Peter Ajani
Mitcham Black played a very big and talented Norwood Vikings. The game was played in a very good friendly contest. Captains this week were Archie and Declan. Both boys led the team well always trying their hardest to be first to the ball. Well-done boys. The Mitcham medals went to Jett and Joel. Jett played his heart out in the middle winning several contests and running his full distance, finishing off with great kicks. Joel really lifted this week playing all over the ground and resulted in Joel kicking his first goal. Great stuff Joel. The ice cream Sunday went to Charlie and Marco. Charlie continued to throw his body into every contest, while Marco followed all my instructions and kept trying to be first to the ball. Great efforts from both boys! The Mr Croc Star Award went to Marcus, Gabriel and Liam who all played their hearts out. Tong and Felix received the Mitcham Encouragement award for wining the ball and continually beating their opponents in the contest, plus a nice couple of goals from Felix. The hot dog award went to William and Patrick. Well done on taking on your opposition players. Special mentions to Steve, Gus and Lebron who really won the third quarter winning nearly all the center clearances.
Mitcham Yellow Under 8 – Coach Josh McConnell
Mitcham Yellow played an outstanding game against Mooroolbark this week and it all started by the leadership from our two Captains in Sam Chaplin and Alexander Parigi. These two boys played really well and showed what Captain’s need to do by being first to the ball and setting up their team mates for many shots at goal. It was a hard fought game in the strong winds, but having a full list meant we had the legs to keep running the whole game. All the coaching staff was really proud of how the boys ran off and on to the ground when it was their turn to support their teammates from the dugout. Again this week so many of the kids could have won awards as they played really well. Stephen Stansfield was back playing his first game for many weeks, but the way he attacked the ball made it look like he had not missed any footy. Stephen was awarded a Panelen’s Healthy Nut Bar and Café voucher for his efforts. Noah Quinlan tries his heart out every game and today was no different. He got to the bottom of many packs and kept the balling moving on every occasion. He also managed to finish with two goals. Noah was also awarded a Panelen’s Healthy Nut Bar and Café voucher for a terrific performance. Henry Thomson was awarded the Mitcham JFC Medal. Every week he keeps getting better and better. He’s very quiet off the ground but on it he is like a tiger. He has great skills and always tries to get the ball, which as we know is what it is all about. Charlie Trollope again showed us his desire to get the ball. On many occasions he was first to the ball and on the bottom of the pack feeding it out to his teammates. Charlie received a Mitcham JFC encouragement award for these efforts and it is great to see him having fun with his mates each week. Another boy who has been playing really good football and using what he learns at training in the match is Archer Kane. He plays in front on just about every occasion and is fantastic at finding his teammates when play is congested. Archer was awarded the Mr. Croc’s Star Award for his game today. The Coach's Medal was today awarded to Ryan McConnell for his attack at the ball and for creating contests to get the ball to his teammates. On every opportunity he made great effort to be in front, completing many great intercept marks, stopping Mooroolbark’s attack and setting up opportunities through the middle of the ground for his teammates. It was one of the best games the team has played and a fitting way to finish first half of the season. We have next weekend off due to the long weekend and we will be back at training on Wednesday the 10th with our next game against North Ringwood Black on the 14th of June. Go the tigers!!!
Under 9 – Team Manager Jamie Gilchrist
Today we travelled to Rowville to take on Lysterfield Grey. The weather looked a bit threatening when we arrived but the sun seemed to come out just as the game started and held on for the game ensuring great conditions albeit cold. Unfortunately big Will Aujard spent Saturday night in hospital fighting a virus and could not make the game. Brad made it to coach the game but went straight back to catch up with Will after the game hence the reason for me writing this report. The boys missed Will on the ground and certainly dug deep in an effort to make him proud. We wish Will all the best and look forward to him getting back fighting fit. As always against Lysterfield, the game proved to be a real arm wrestle. Both teams have their fair share of players who can run, mark and kick the ball long making sure for a tough, challenging game, with lots of goals at both ends of the ground. A special mention has to go to Gruff who really nailed all the 1 percenters today, putting his body on the line when required. Christian took the chocolate home today; the hard work he is putting in at training is really paying off for him on game day. Jack went home with the canteen voucher; his work in defence kept us in the game all day making sure a forward entry to Lysterfield did not guarantee a goal. Jacoby took home the medal today for his work at centre half forward, he jumped into packs when required taking some strong marks. Well done again today boys it was great to see you all work so hard under pressure all day. Stay tuff Tigers
Under 10 – Coach Carlo Fanfulla
The boys played at home this week against Knox and we were lucky that the weather held up and helped make for a good contest. Leading from the front, Ned Dodds and Xavier Harpur were proud captains. It was a great start as the boys played brilliantly in the first quarter having more shots at goal than our opposition. Jok contributed with some great tackling from the centre. Sam Atherton did a great job in clearing the ball out of defence with some great kicks. The second quarter proved to be a real challenge for the boys as we were kicking against a strong wind. Charlie Bamford was impressive in the second term by showing us how he can make the ball stick with strong marking which really helped the boys going forward. The third quarter saw us kicking with the wind and both Hamish and Hudson scored goals. Alexi Hopkins gained in confidence throughout the game clearing the ball out from the centre and feeding our forwards with some good kicking. He also smothered a ball on Knox's goal line, which stopped a certain goal from being scored. I’m really proud of our last quarter effort as we applied a lot of pressure and never give up. Hamish Gill was at his best running hard and picking up a lot of disposals from the backline and midfield. Lauchlan Dane proved to be our strength in the backline running hard and contesting every ball that came his way. Knox outscored us in the last and they did a great job in maintaining their positions well and controlling the play. Two well-deserving players picked up this weeks encouragement awards; Alexi Hopkins and Lauchlan Dane. Well-done boys. Go Tigers!
Under 11 – Coach Jason Philactides
Another tough week, but the boys are fighting strong and not giving up. Well done to the boys. They all tried hard today, but unfortunately East Burwood has improved since the last time we played them. However, our boys are also improving, and showed some great passages of play, particularly when they chipped the ball around consecutively 3 or 4 times, to eventually find the best option to kick a goal. These moments of play show the boys have great skill and working as a team, and I am happy to see this on the field. We are coming together as a team and I am proud of the boys they way they fought it out today. It’s been a tough year so far, and I as a coach will still keep working hard to get our first win. They boys deserve it. Even though it can be disheartening to not have a win yet, I am proud of how the boys still train hard each week, and continue to get in there and give it a go each Sunday morning. Damon was awarded best on ground today for his great work in the ruck all game. Against tough and much bigger opposition, he fought hard and never gave up. Well-done Damon!
Final Score: East Burwood 8.14.52 d Mitcham 2.1.13
Goals: Mackay Sanderson and Daniel Newnham
Under 12 – Coach Mark Ross
A cold and windy day greeted us today at Walker Park as we played the fourth placed East Ringwood. We were narrow victors last time we met them in round one and I knew we were in for a tough game. Celebrating his 50th game, Sam Agius, tossed the coin and East Ringwood kicked with a stiff breeze. Once again our back line stood strong not conceding a goal, and great team work saw the 50 gamer, Sam, kick a fantastic into the wind goal. The second quarter we kicked with the breeze and made the mistake of thinking that it would be easy to score with the wind, which of course did not happen. Lesson learnt boys! A mark in front to Louis and a straight kick was our only second quarter goal. One goal each in the second term saw the Tigers up at half time by a goal. In the third quarter the rain came and reduced the game to a hard slog in tough conditions. I asked for a greater effort to keep the forward line open in the last quarter which the boys did, enabling us to kick a further 2 goals. A great running goal to Alex and a free kick and goal to Jamie saw us run out winners 27 to 6. A Great game by Joel who controlled the centre bounces and took marks around the ground all day. Encouragement awards to Daniel, who also took a number of marks and to Ethan Miller who kept pumping the ball forward from the back line. Well-done boys! It was also great to see Sam Balman play a quarter of football, coming back from a long-term injury. Keep up the good work boys! It's all about developing our football skills and continuing to improve our teamwork.
Final Score: Mitcham 4.3.27 d East Ringwood 1.0.6
The Under 13’s had a bye
Under 15 – Coach Cam Horsey
Today we returned to Walker Park to take on Waverley Blues for the second time this season. Last time we took on Waverley we came away with the win, but we also knew that they were no easy beats and we had to be on our game if we were to come away with the chocolates this time. We had two extra reasons to play well today with Timmy and Keenan celebrating their fifty games for the tigers. The coaching staff enforced the need for us to get off to a good start and score first. Just as the game was about to start the rain started so it was crucial for us to be first to the ball. Waverley came out strong and were also hard at it. The contest was pretty physical at the start and the ball was hotly contested. We forced the ball forward early but Waverley were able to rebound the ball out of our forward line and straight into theirs where they were able to put the first score on the board, all be it a point. Our backline handled the pressure from then on and made it hard for Waverley to score again. Our backline have been instrumental in our wins this year, led brilliantly by Stinger and now Maxxy who has been fantastic the last three games. Our mids continued to work extremely hard for the first half and continually forced the ball forward but we were unable to turn the forward entries into goals. The forward line needed to be more accountable for the work the mids were doing. We need to be stronger at the contest and more desperate to lock the ball in. Josh Chivers was a shining light down the forward line and was strong overhead and continually led up as a target for the mids to work with. At half time we came into the rooms where the boys received a spray from the coach and were asked to have a good look at themselves and not to rely on the usual players week in week. The boys were asked to lift and make an impact across the ground and understand that they are playing for a position each week as we are entering into the business end. The boys came out the second half and it was evident from the first bounce that they have taken it on board. We started strong and before long we had increased the lead on the scoreboard. We never looked back from there and came away with a solid win. We can’t afford to be complacent from here boys as teams are hunting us down and are desperate to knock us off. Special mentions go to Tim Ross again for a solid display of “four quarter” football. Stinger for his control around the back line. Maxxy for his dogged display down back. Cooper Doig for once again taking the job of controlling the oppositions most dangerous player and coming out on top “again”. JP for his fantastic running game and ball winning ability. In the end it was a good team effort that got us over the line, but we need to be more focused on our starts and continue for a full four quarters. Next game is crucial to our season boys as it will be more than likely a top of the table clash. The Basin doesn’t hold back and we must be prepared for a great clash. Have a great week off and prepare yourselves for the rest of the season. Still a good win today - we just can’t drop our guard for any amount of time this year. Go Tiges!
Final Score: Mitcham 7.6.48 d Waverley Blues 4.6.30
Last Modified on 04/12/2019 12:39
