The North Ballarat Roosters showed that they are still a threat in season 2011 after their second win in as many weeks at home as Paul Hooper reports.
No one is talking about the Roosters being a genuine threat and some say they are flying under the radar, but when they are on song, they can beat any side in the VFL.
Last Saturday they held off the Box Hill Hawks when the Hawks were making a serious challenge in the last term.
The first term was pretty tight with a strong breeze blowing across the ground perhaps favouring the Hawks in the vicinity of 2 goals. The Roosters worked hard and repelled Box Hill attacks time and time again. At quarter-time, Damian Carroll gave the Hawks a serious burst and was quite animated. Box Hill simply didn’t make enough of their chances.
In the second term the Roosters controlled the game from their half-back line turning defence into attack. Cam Richardson and Ryan Mckenzie were dominating along with ex-Box Hill player, Lachie George doing plenty of damage to his old club. The run and carry from the half back line and ability to hit targets saw the Roosters set the game up kicking six goals to one in the second quarter.
Box Hill weren’t done with and rallied, kicking four goals to two in the third quarter to make the deficit 22-points going into the final term.
The Hawks kicked the first goal of the final term and it was game on. The Roosters however had different plans. Their ability to kick goals against the flow of play was incredibly good and although Box Hill threw everything at them, it wasn’t enough.
North Ballaratrunning out 19-point winners 14-16-100 to The Box Hill Hawks 12-9-81. Box Hill were simply unable to put a 4-quarter game together. Sam Gibson led from the front as he always does for the Hawks, new recruit Adam Pattison was great and Haydn Kiel’s efforts were at times amazing. Kyle Cheney battled hard along with Will Sierakowski but it wasn’t enough.
What was great about the Roosters was when they were challenged, they were able to step up a gear and nullify the challenge. Their ability to press in waves, their run and carry and ability to hit targets was super impressive. McKenzie, Sewell, Richardson and Micallef were great and the games from Mullett, Hoy and the skipper Marc Grieg were also notable.
North Ballarat will continue to press for a top 4 spot in the coming weeks. They have a bye this round and then take on Frankston in round 10. No easy challenge at Frankston Oval. Rounds 11 and 12 will see the Roosters play Williamstown (at Keilor) and Port Melbourne. These two rounds could be season defining for North Ballarat as they strive to win 4 flags in a row.
For Box Hill, they will play the Northern Bullants in a must win match for the club. The Hawks will then play Geelong and Frankston in the following two rounds and if they can win these three games, their season will be back on track.
On another note, it was wonderful to interview Gerard FitzGerald on the pre-match of the 3WBC 94.1FM coverage of the clash last week. In the six years I have been broadcasting VFL football Gerard has never knocked us back for an interview and is always smiling and genuine. I could talk to him for hours about VFL footy. He has just been appointed for another 2 years at the helm of North Ballarat and says he definitely still has the “fire in the belly” for the job and has no plans to retire anytime soon. Indeed he is so important for VFL football.
Last Modified on 24/05/2011 16:28