The Mitcham Junior Football Club was involved in Round 6 action over the weekend. After playing in cold, wet and gusty conditions last weekend, we were blessed with fine and sunny conditions for round 6. Below are the match reports from all our games.
Under 8 Mitcham Black – Coach Peter Ajani
Mitcham Black took on a very talented East Ringwood White in what was a very even contest. East Ringwood started the first term off with four goals to our four points and to Mitcham Black’s credit we managed to score five goals in the second quarter to create a very even game. We welcomed Declan to the team who tried his heart in his first game. The captains this week were Jett and Liam who both played very good games. Jett showed what a nice kick he is and Liam won the ball in the centre. Well-captained boys! The first Mitcham medal went to Archie, who took strong marks down back, kicked goals when forward and cleared the ball when put in the middle. The other medal went to Marcus who put all his efforts in to be first to the ball and never gave up in a contest. Only the siren stopped him from kicking a great goal. Steve put in another great game and received the Panelen’s Healthy Nut Bar and Café ice cream sundae. The EFL Encouragement Award - Mr Croc Star Award went to Joel who tried his hardest to be first to the ball and would not let go once he got the ball and Charlie who continued to win the ball having several great runs through the middle resulting in goals. Other nice goals came from Felix & LeBron (2 each), and Noah and Marco (1 each). Well done to the entire team today!
Under 8 Mitcham Yellow – Coach Josh McConnell
Mitcham Yellow had a fantastic game today against South Croydon. With teamwork the aim of today’s game, all the boys did an amazing job looking for teammates and bringing them into the play. We worked hard at training on talking loud and looking for teammates with hand and foot whilst running. All the boys did this amazingly well and it was great to watch today. The teamwork went so well that when Mason and Heath played for the South Croydon in one quarter, they each kicked a goal. Great stuff Tigers. It really goes to show how well the kids are listening, learning and having fun playing with each other. Nate Evans was our captain today after a week off and he led from the front from the moment the ball bounced, gaining the first clearance out of the middle. There were so many highlights out of today’s game, which included really good ball movement from the backline, through the middle and then in front of goal, creating so many scoring opportunities. Archer Kane was awarded one of the medals today. His attack on the ball and support of his teammates was fantastic today and has been a big improver since the start of the season. He capped his game off with a great goal from deep in the pocket. Great stuff Archer, keep on being first to the ball. Sam Chaplin was awarded the other Medal today, which was also the day of his first goal in Aussie Rules. Sam always tries exceptionally hard and has improved so much over the last few weeks with his kicking being the standout. Well-done Sam! Ryan McConnell received the Crocs award this week for his endeavor to be first to the ball, something he did on many occasions as well as his kicking into the forward line helped create many shots on goal. Nice work Ryan. Harrison Fearnely was awarded the other Crocs award today for his great marking skills in the forward line and his defensive work when playing down back. Great to see you use your height Harry. The Mitcham Encouragement Award went to Noah Quinlan today due to his ability to read the play, knowing where the ball is going and the pressure he put on when in defense. Great stuff Noah and keep up the hard work in the backline setting up the play. Heath Fox was in everything as always and even scored goals for both teams. Heath was awarded the Penelan’s award for his terrific teamwork and always getting to the ball first. This week’s training will be exciting with the Hawks players coming down. Don’t forget it will be on Tuesday at 5pm and I look forward to seeing you boys’ work hard again on kicking, handballing and marking. Go the tigers!!
Under 9 – Coach Brad Aujard
What a great day for football today against the South Belgrave Saints. The sun was shining and all the parents were out in force. As South Belgrave had only 15 players and being the fair and competitive side we are; 8 of our boys (Joshy, Samuel, Felix, Ethan, Jacoby, Will, Jack and Seb) stood up and played a quarter each for the Saints. Well-done boys, that shows such good sportsmanship. Leo seemed to have the ball on a string today dominating around the packs, with Luca showing some muscle in the packs by getting the ball out. As a result, the two boys took home the canteen voucher and the chocolate bar respectively. Samuel stuck his head up at the end to kick a couple of good goals after some strong marks, thereby earning him the encouragement award. The backline did a fantastic job today with the saints seemingly unable to penetrate their forward line. It’s great to hear some of the leaders in the team encouraging others whilst out on the field and creating the wall across half back…great work boys. I can’t wait until next week when we take on the Vermont Eagles for the second time at their home ground. Training will be a little longer than normal this week- 4.15pm till 5.30pm. If you can come earlier it would be appreciated. Stay tough tigers!
Under 10 – Coach Carlo Fanfulla
Our Under 10 boys played away this week taking on Donvale. Our captain was Hamish Gill who did a brilliant job leading the boys by playing a great game and running hard in all four quarters. He created a lot of opportunities for our forwards by feeding them the ball on many occasions and finishing off with two goals that lifted the team’s spirit. Hudson Goulding played a courageous game with a display of good hard tackling as he stopped a goal from being scored by Donvale in a one on one contest. Ned Dodds played a good role in the back line by keeping his position well and staying on one of their better players. It was also great to see Stephen Burton taking some good marks up forward in the first half. Our boys found it hard chasing, as Donvale were fast on their feet playing on the full size ground. We finished off strong in the last term and it was good to see that the boys who were bruised and battered from a tough game, did not give up on each other. Encouragement awards were given to Ned Dodds and Oscar Marini. A great effort well done Tigers!
Under 11 – Coach Jason Philactides
The boys trained exceptionally well on Friday and I was very confident that if we took that form into today’s game, we would be a great chance for a win. Unfortunately the first quarter didn’t go to plan. Mooroolbark got off to a great start kicking 4 goals to our nothing in the first quarter however for the remainder of the game we were very competitive with Mooroolbark only kicking 3 goals to our 1. The boys should hold their heads high and start to believe in themselves and their ability to play good footy when they’re committed and focused on winning the ball. It’s games like today that give me huge amounts of satisfaction seeing the boys execute beautifully on my instructions. While we are yet to win a game I am truly optimistic that a win isn’t far away! Further to this, I know teams we’ve played have been far better (because they’re much bigger) however I don’t see the other teams tackle, play on, handball in tight spaces like we do. Like the boys, I would like to have had a win or 2 on the board by now, but having said this I think our development to date is far more important in the long run. Please keep your boy optimistic, enthusiastic and driven each week and when that win comes we’ll sing the tiger song loud and proud. Well done to Mackay Sanderson and Jasper Sedgewick for their awards. We wish Mac Treeby all the very best and a speedy recovery after sustaining what looks like a season ending injury. Keep your chin up Mac!
Final Score: Mooroolbark 7.14.56 d Mitcham 1.3.9
Goals: Daniel Trinder
Under 12 – Coach Mark Ross
This week’s game saw the U12's take on Wantirna South away under beautiful clear skies. Having got off to a slow start over the last couple of games the coaches challenged the boys to start this game well and did they deliver. The Tigers kicked 4 goals in the first quarter, which was their best first quarter for the season. But then unfortunately the boys went into they shells and failed to score in the second quarter. After a bit of a rev up at half time the boys were back on track kicking another 2 goal in the third and one in the last to run out convincing winners. Multiple goals to Harry and Sam, singles to Lauchie, Callum, and Ethan Wu. Well-done boys. It was a very even team effort today. A number of the boys were tried in different positions this game and they performed well. Encouragement awards went to Lachie and Joel for celebrating their 50 games also well done boys. T he highlight of this game was the way we played in the first quarter, our best for the season. If we continue to play like that we will be hard to beat. Consistency is the key and that only comes with hard work, continual effort and the will to achieve. Well done boys, next week is a new challenge.
Final Score: Mitcham 7.5.47 d Wantirna Sth 2.3.15
Under 13 – Coach Shane Dickson
Today we were up against Boronia who came at us hard in the first quarter kicking 5 goals to our 1. We were behind in most of the contests and although we were winning the ruck contests, we were not able to get the ball out of the middle. To the boys credit they fought very hard, and we had most of the play in the next three quarters. We ran and carried the ball well in stages, but were unfortunately inaccurate on the scoreboard. The boys are improving each week and I know that with some more hard work, and some persistence the results will eventually pay off.
Final Score: Boronia 8.5.53 d Mitcham 4.10.34
Goals: Jayden 1, Corey 1, Matt C 1 & Dominic 1
Under 15 – Coach Cam Horsey
Today we travelled to Chirnside Park, which has always been a tough match where we have failed to bring home the chocolates in recent years. During the week we spoke to the group about the commitment required at the contest and the clean ball use in tight situations. The coaching staff highlighted the need for us to get out of the blocks early and apply scoreboard pressure to avoid having to play catch up football. We won the toss and elected to kick with a slight breeze, which would be an advantage if we used the ball properly. Unfortunately Chirnside had the same idea and got out early with the first score. We need to focus more on our starts boys to ensure this doesn’t happen again, especially leading into the second half of the season. Chirny continued to apply scoreboard pressure, but our backline steadied and worked hard to slow down the forward entries where defense started to turn into attack. Tommy Stingell once again was the key down back, continually floating across the half back line marking everything and using the ball well to propel us forward. Scoring was difficult up until half time, but we stayed within scoring distance to challenge Chirnside in the second half. We slotted Jules into the centre where he took it upon himself to run with one of Chirnside’s damaging players. Not only did Jules come out on top, he helped change the outcome of the game with his ferocious attack on the ball. Great game Jules! The second half Mitcham came out more focused and prepared than Chirnside to be the first to the ball and to all be accountable for their position, this was evident when Riley was given the job at full forward and was asked to make a contest at every opportunity. Riley was sensational in the third quarter kicking three goals in a short period of time, giving Mitcham the lead and we never gave it up after that. I need to mention a few other players for their commitment to the team for the entire game. Big Maxxy was slotted into a position down back, which is a little bit foreign to him, but he killed it down back and was pivotal in stopping Chirnside getting back into the game. Keenan once again worked hard across the wing and was quite often in the position where he had to compete against more than one player, coming out on top every time. Hoppo for his continual presence around the ground providing us with a target all day, Josh Chivers for being really strong in the air and providing the forwards with some precision kicking and Adrian for covering the damaging number 3. Great job today boys and great commitment to each other. This was a great win and should propel us forward for next week. A big couple of nights on the track will set us up for our next challenge boys. Don’t forget, we don’t get any easy games this year and we can’t afford to be off our game. We need to bring our best each week. Look forward to Wednesday. Go Tiges!!
Final Score: Mitcham 8.10.58 d Chirnside Park 5.12.42
A REMINDER TO EVERYONE TO GET YOUR RAFFLE TICKETS BACK TO YOUR TEAM MANAGERS ASAP, AND LET THEM KNOW IF YOU INTEND TO COME ALONG TO OUR COMEDY NIGHT ON FRIDAY, MAY 29.
Last Modified on 04/12/2019 12:38