SENIORS
The first quarter was a tight contest with both sides hitting the ball hard in wet conditions. Watsonia took an early lead by a goal and held it for most of the first quarter, but their efforts fell away throughout the rest of the game until midway through the last quarter. In fact, Watsonia did not kick a goal for almost 3 quarters of football from half way through the first until hlaf way through the last whilst the Hills set up plenty of good goals up forward. The midfield was terrific in bringing the ball forward with the inclusion of Benn Parker and Simon Amore whilst the forward line structure provided ample options including Zak Williams getting better each week, Brendan Oconnor in a best on ground performance yet again and Joffa Byron still in good form. Some of the young guys such as Josh Chapman across the middle, Lauchy Pearson up forward and Daniel Keen in the ruck and forward line provided some depth to the side and showed plenty of endeavour. Kane Gilmore provided some extra grunt where needed and Jayson Darcy-Molloy continued his strong efforts from last week. The only down side for the day was a terrible hand injury to Tristan Kreymborg and a quiet patch in the final 10 minutes of the game when Watsonia kicked 3 unanswered goals. In the end a comfortable win for the Hills and an opportunity to extend their winning run against Heidelberg West next week.
RESERVES
The Hills were in search of their first win of the season and with a number of late changes to the team the task was going to be difficult with some players very underdone and lacking match fitness. With the rain falling for the majority of the reserves match the game was a scrappy affair with goals hard to get but the reserves were able to hold a slight lead for most of the match and remained strong in a tight last quarter to record a one point win despite the scoreboard indicating a draw. Ty Dummett saved the game in the last remaining minute of the game with a smother in the Watsonia goal square and then the Redbacks side was able to rebound the ball back into the forward line quickly and Nick Prenc kicked the winning point from the boundary with 30 seconds remaining to bring about the Hills first win of the season. Better players on the day were Tim Fry, Andrew Schadendorff, Andrew Jackson and Brett Aldred.
Last Modified on 17/10/2012 14:15