The Mitcham Junior Football Club was involved in Round 10 action over the weekend. The Under 9’s started proceedings at Walker Park under sunny skies and coach Carlo Fanfulla sent in this report - “The Under 9’s were pumped up to be playing at the MCG of the east in front of our home crowd and certainly did not disappoint. I’m so proud of our Round 10 performance, what amazing progress this team has made in 10 weeks. It was a close fought out match with Forest Hill just coming out on top in the end. Not scoring a goal in the first quarter is the only thing that let us down, but with the fighting spirit our boy’s have shown and the attitude of never giving up, we were able to out score Forest Hill in the last quarter, three goals to two. This week’s captains Lauchlan Dane and Oscar Marini showed great leadership with both playing well and always going hard at the ball. Alexander Fousias played a brilliant game while in the midfield with some great marking and good running with the ball and was rewarded by kicking two goals in the last quarter. Devdatta Bhat has come a long way since his first game, building in confidence by applying good pressure to the opposition and also kicking a goal in the third quarter. It’s great to see him enjoying his footy. Other goals came from Sam Atherton and Alexi Hopkins who both really enjoyed their time up forward and are also showing great improvement to their kicking. Noah Melville kept good control of the ball many times while under pressure from several opposition players. MJFC Footballs were awarded to our “Players of the day” - Jack Apostolopoulos, Ethan Hewitt, Devdatta Bhat and Noah Melville. Well-done boy’s well deserved. Go Tigers!”
The Under 10's took on Lysterfield at Lakefield Reserve. Coach Jason Philactides had this to say about their game. “We had the long drive out to Lysterfield this week without really knowing what to expect from a team that is based in a growth area of Melbourne. Early on it was apparent we would be in with a chance considering for the second week in a row we decided to lend the opposition 3 players to even up the teams which again meant every child would get a full game or very close to. The game started at frenetic pace with our boys controlling most of the play, however at quarter time we were behind on the scoreboard. Considering we were controlling the play it was clear we were breaking down on a few little structures that we try to play to every week. We were loose across the back-line, we weren't building a wall through the middle of the ground and our forwards weren't starting high up on the half forward line. At quarter time we re-adjusted our structures, re-assured the boys and with some self-belief they came out of the blocks firing. Mac was putting his body between the opposition and the ball, Nick was putting his head over the ball and Jamie B was wearing his opponent like a glove. The standard was set by some great one per centers in the first half and the boys continued to do the hard things and keep control in the second half, in fact Lysterfield failed to score another goal for the game. Our forwards pushed up the ground as asked and that left a lot of space in our forward line. Our backs were tight and built a wall any bricklayer would be proud of and our midfield ran hard and worked their backsides off to keep pushing the ball forward. Today's result was a very true reflection of the way we have trained over the past fortnight and it's no surprise we've had two fantastic results in as many weeks. Fantastic team effort!! Best players - EVERYONE! Congrats to Josh and Bailey on great captains games. This week our awards for wonderful individual play and “fantastic one per centers” went to Loal, Jamie B, Nick and Mac. Well done! Boys please get to training on time and be ready to go when the first whistle blows. We'll continue to work on our hardball gets and our kicks to position. Enjoy the week!”
The Under 11’s were at home and took on Boronia. Team Manager Geoff Jones posted this report on the game. – “A strong victory for the U11’s albeit against an undermanned side from Boronia. We burst out of the blocks in the 1st quarter to establish a firm grasp on the game with 6 opening goals. If there was any doubt about achieving a victory, this was gone by half time with another 3 unanswered goals and this comes to the heart of our recent mode of game play - The first half is typically superb; everyone is focused on achieving the coaching staff instructions. The second half however has recently become less focused. It is not fatigue because the opposition is also running around trying to catch up. We just played the 8th team on the ladder, there are 4 rounds remaining with the next 3 against 10th, 7th and 9th. These are matches where we need to apply ourselves for 4 quarters to be conditioned to take on Chirnside Park in the last round. We need to achieve solid victories with 100% effort for the entire game if we are to be prepared mentally and physically to avenge our loss to Chirnside in round 9. If we want the glory of playing finals, we need to stake our claim now and secure strong victories along the way. Come on Tigers! Lets show the competition what we are made of!”
Final Score: Mitcham 13.12.90 d Boronia 1.3.9
The Under 12’s played Lysterfield away and were lucky enough to be cheered onto the ground by our Under 10’s, something that is very rare to happen at an away game! Coach Marcus Webb sent in the following match report - “Having met earlier in the year we knew we were in with a chance against Lysterfield if we didn’t let them get away from us early. Sure enough the boys were hard at it from the start and got an early goal through Matt Cost. However in a sign of things to come, Lysterfield replied reasonably quickly. The next two quarters were tight but we had edged ahead by the end of the third quarter. Urged on, the boys surged to a 2 goal lead in the last quarter. Lysterfield responded with desperation and put us under a lot of pressure. A couple of undisciplined moments that resulted in frees to the opposition lead to Lysterfield drawing level. Finally a free kick to Lysterfield on the siren in front of goal that was touched but not prevented from going through for a behind gave Listerfield the win. Despite the loss and the manner in which we collapsed late, there were some terrific efforts and we did manage to have more shots at goal. It was great to have Danny back and as he warmed to the task. His attack on the footy was great! Corey again provided heaps of drive and competed hard for the ball. Luke Smith had a great second half up forward. Bailey was very good in the ruck, while Julian was handy at full back along with Michael, Lincoln, Nick, Max W and Kyle who were all good at various times through the middle. Our defense was pretty good all day and all the boys contributed. Still there are plenty of things we need to improve on and although this was a good effort, we need to keep working hard to get the desired results. Go tigers!”
Final Score: Lysterfield 4.3.27 d Mitcham 3.8.26
The Under 14’s were at home against a 3rd place Bayswater outfit in a “much anticipated” game. Although we had a couple of guys out this week, the boys toughed out a hard fought game to go down to the better team on the day. Coach Cam Chivers had this to say about the game – “It was a disappointing day for us today. We were competitive in the second half but had to play catch up for most of the day. With 20 scoring shots each and to lose by 20 points is frustrating, but the season continues and we will continue to work hard.”
Final Score: Bayswater 10.10.70 d Mitcham 6.14.50
The Under 17's played host to second placed Ringwood this week and in front of a large crowd in a “stand up, knock ‘em down affair” got the chocolates to the tune of 49 points. Coach Gavin Ward said after the Game – “We know what you’re going to get when you play these guys and we spoke about it during the week - Our focus was to play hard contested footy, keep our discipline and our courage would be judged by our ability to put our head over the ball in the heat of the battle. Fair to say we got that today and while we are still not at full strength, hopefully we can gather some momentum as we get towards the pointy end of the season and play a part come finals time. We are certainly not there yet and look forward to another real contest against Blackburn at home next week.”
Final Score: Mitcham 14.11.95 d Ringwood 7.4.46
A big shout out of thanks to the Mitcham Senior Football Club faithful - Committee, players and supporters alike who turned out in numbers on Sunday to support the under 14’s and 17’s. It’s a big effort to go to the footy on a Sunday after a long day on Saturday (and for some a long night!) but all the boys really enjoyed the extra support and we as a Junior club really look forward to seeing the Senior club prosper during this year’s finals. You can also rest assured that come senior finals time, our junior club will help build a huge “Tiger Army” to support you guys all the way!
Thanks to Bec Clark and Paul O'Sullivan for the great photos
Last Modified on 04/12/2019 12:31