The Mitcham Junior Football Club teams were involved in Round 11 action over the weekend. If we were not sure whether winter had arrived, this weekend was confirmation it was here! The Under 9’s took on Coldstream and Coach Carlo Fanfulla posted this report: “We traveled to Coldstream this week to take on the Cougars and may I say thanks to all the under 9 families who made the effort to come all that way in such wet and cold conditions. Noah Melville and Darcy McCall captained the Tigers this week and they both played outstanding games. The conditions were dry at the start but as the match went on, the heavens opened up and it just seemed to get colder which is where the Cougars were able to handle the conditions a bit better than us. We did see a brilliant performance from Ryan O’Sullivan who had a lot of leather on his hands and out ran his opponents for most part of the match kicking our only goal in the second quarter and having several more attempts at goal. William Aujard came out firing from the bench and made a big impact on the game, growing in confidence each week, he took some great marks and contributed in moving the ball deep into our forward line. There was also some outstanding work from Xavier Harpur in the ruck winning most of his contests. Darcy McCall’s time in the forward line was great to watch and he just came up short at a great attempt at goal. Playing in defense, Gruff Edwards and James Fanfulla provided Coldstream with a challenge each time the ball came near them. All credit to Coldstream though as their kicking accuracy proved to be better than ours on the day. The MJFC ‘Player of the Day’ Footballs were awarded to William Aujard, Darcy McCall, Xavier Harpur and Jordan Ede. Very well deserved boys. Go Tigers!
The Under 10’s were at home taking on Glen Waverley Rovers. Coach Jason Philctides had this to say about the game: “Today was the first real wet game for the year and along with arctic like winds, it didn't set the best conditions to take on a team that was bigger and stronger than us. The first quarter started reasonably even until Glen Waverley found their mojo and kicked ahead quite convincingly, however there were some individual performances from Harry, Jamie C and Jack that gave me some positives to talk about at the quarter time break. At the break I emphasized the importance of playing man on man, while still trying to take the game on and it seemed to work for at least the second quarter as the boys stemmed Glen Waverley's goal kicking flow and managed to move the ball forward into our danger zone a few times. When the half time siren blew all the players, parents and coaches were happy to retreat into the change rooms as the rain started to come down heavy and I reckon that the chill factor dropped about 10 degrees! Unfortunately the second half became a very one sided affair with our boys trying their heart out to compete, but Glen Waverley had all the momentum and were impossible to stop, apart from in the dying minutes of the game where we surged forward with some lovely run and carry to give us our best opportunity to score. However the bigger bodies of Glen Waverley were just too hard to get around. A huge thank you goes to the Glen Waverley coach for agreeing to put all 24 of our players on the ground so they could all get a run and more importantly keep warm. Today's football awards went to Harry, Jamie C, Jack and Bailey for numerous amounts of “one per-center” efforts and for taking the game on when they were under massive amounts of pressure from the opposition. We were also well led by Boothy and Luca in nice captains games.”
The Under 11’s followed the Under 10 game at Walker Park, talking on Norwood. Team manager Geoff Jones sent in this match report: “It was one of those icy Sunday mornings when its hard to get the hoody off, the boys can’t feel their fingers and goose bumps can be seen on every arm and leg. Despite all of this, the Under 11’s recorded another convincing win. The scoreboard pretty much tells its own story. We did have an explosive start with Callum Mead getting the first goal within the first 2 minutes of play, but as the ball got wetter and heavier it was harder to achieve the distance with set shots at goal. The boys adjusted accordingly to see plenty of goals scores in the second and third quarters. Congratulations to Tyler Kenyon for entering the goal kicking tally during this term. Norwood decided to flood our forward line for the final quarter, which had the desired effect of slowing us down and making it hard to score. The positive out of this was to witness our defenders and mid field continue to form the wall and simply return the ball back to our forwards. Next week sees us take on Heathmont away; another must win game, as we get closer to the pointy end of the season. Lets go tigers, three more solid wins and we can finish high on the ladder and give ourselves a chance!”
Final Score: Mitcham 9.8.62 d Norwood 0.0.0
The Under 12’s headed up into the hills to take on Montrose. Coach Marcus Webb had this to say about the game: “Playing earlier than usual this week and in the rain clearly didn’t suit our boys as much as it suited Montrose. In all but the third quarter Montrose managed 7 or 8 scoring shots - whereas we struggled to generate any scores. In a great third quarter we fought hard and kept them to only 2 points which was a great effort. Matt Cost kept his run of goals going with another this week and in fact was our only scorer for the match as he also kicked a behind. We had a number of injuries throughout the day and a few who were not at full fitness. We were lucky we had a full squad this week. Danny had another terrific game at full back, continually attacking the ball and driving it forward. Harry was busy as always early and Kyle had a great game. Luke B was good through the middle and Nick, Corey, Ryan and Michael were all handy at different times. Elijah was very competitive in the ruck and fought hard for the ball all day. The backline had a busy day and Callum was very good at intercepting those attacks, especially late in the game. There were plenty of good efforts - still there were some simple things we need to improve on to be more competitive - staying in front of your opponent and not doubling back when we win the ball, to name a couple. So let’s hit the track hard and keep working and improving. Go tigers!”
Final Score: Montrose 13.12.90 d Mitcham 1.1.7
The Under 14’s were away this weekend and took on the bottom of the ladder team, Scoresby. Coach Cam Chivers had this to say about the game: “A pretty wet and cold day down at Scoresby where we needed the win to stay atop the ladder and give ourselves every opportunity to finish as high as possible. The plan was to put pressure on from the very start, which we did. Due to the conditions it was a very scrappy game where we did well at ground level all day and forced the ball forward at every opportunity. It was a pleasing win considering we had a few underdone players. We must start to take our time in front of goals as we have kicked 13 goals 30 behinds in the past two games. We need to steady when kicking for goal, as it will cost us if we continue to be wayward coming into the tail end of the season. We will work really hard on the track to ensure that we are getting the most out of everyone.”
Final Score: Mitcham 7.16.58 d Scoresby 3.4.22
The Under 17’s played host to Blackburn this week where a win would consolidate Mitcham’s position in the top 5, while Blackburn needed to win to stay in touch with the top 5 - unfortunately the result didn’t go our way. Coach Gavin Ward said after the game, “Not the result we were looking for today. Regardless of what players take the field, there can never be any excuses. We were simply beaten by the better team. They wanted it more than us! We are now locked in a real tight struggle to play finals and the reality is that some boys might just be playing their last 3 games of junior footy”
Final Score: Blackburn 9.8.62 d Mitcham 3.9.27
Thanks to Graham Bradtke and Bec Clark for the photos!
Remember this coming Saturday, July 5 we are holding our family day at Walker Park as the Senior side face off against Ringwood for the "Greg Pimm Memorial Shield". 1pm start and remember to enter through the Dunlavin Road gate, where an Adult will be admitted for free if they are accompanying a junior wearing a Mitcham Hoody. Jumping Castle, Pony rides and face paining as well as an Auskick grid game taking place at half time of the Senior game. We will have the MJFC tent set up with BBQ, drinks and merchandise sales. Would love to see as many Junior families support this day as possible! See elsewhere on this website for all the details!
Last Modified on 04/12/2019 12:31