The day began for the Oracle with the wonderful occasion of 200 games for former club captain and super bloke, D-Mac. His run through befuddled the Oracle who is a great cognisor of roman numerals – so when did 200 = X X?. Club Historian and resident brain, Southa needs to know that 200 = CC! Crikey!
The Magoos were up against another good side and they had a tough day to celebrate the D-Mac milestone. Good signs were there with one of the Oracle’s favourites, Gilly, back for his second game in what feels like a decade. Even saw Gilly snapped one from the boundary and Schoey, Richie and Mitch all tried hard.
Inside the new clubrooms the lady’s lunch was being entertained by Old Haileyburian celebrity Kelsey Gade who was informing the predominantly female audience on things “blokes can’t do”. What should have been a 2 minutes soul searching exercise turned into a 15 minute period of enlightenment and occasional rude word for the attending Throng.
Well the Oracle can tell you a few things blokes can’t do – one is provide a time Keeper if you are OMs and another is no bloke appears able to work the new ‘super 8’ scoreboard. Anyway….back to the footy
OMs started strongly and had pace to burn. Trav responded against the trend and scored our first point. He then took a ripper mark and converted the Blood’s first. Our team tackling was desperate and Johno Roberts found Trav on the lead and he kicked our second. The Bloods errors and turnovers kept mounting and OMs took full advantage and savaged the goals at the southern end. The scoreboard lads were kept ultra-busy as OMs kicked 7.1 for the quarter with 5 of them from inside 15 metres. Trav got his first free in a two years and kicked our third. By quarter time Trav had kicked 3.1 of our 3.2 score line but the signs were ominous that we were going to be in for a tough day. Gledders has continued his recent good form and Hammer and Raff were strong contributors
The second quarter was pretty horrible football all round. Dropped marks, missed targets and skill errors tainted our performance and thankfully the visitors weren’t much better. Raff was busting a gut and Trav and Micky Meehan were trying their hearts out. Collo was also in the play. Both sides stumbled to make a score with 2 each being the tally for the quarter. Alfie got us a late one after Meehan took a spekky to convert from close distance. Half time – 5.3 to 9.4
If you arrived at half time you could not have believed the difference between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas. Clearly our best football since the SKOB game of 2012 we were simply unstoppable. Desperate Micky Meehan dived on an OM’s foot and was rewarded with a brave goal and then the flood gates opened. Seconds later Raff passed to Meehan again – another mark and goal. Raff Junior burst out of a boundary line pack and found Meehan again for his third for the quarter. A minute later Trav found Meehan again and superb mark was converted for this 4th for the stanza. Hammer burst from the ball up and his long ball saw another Meehan screamer and he score his 5th.
Trav got another free on the tough side boundary and his banana kick also brought up 6 points. Trav got another and all of a sudden the Bloods had kicked 8 for the quarter. The visitors could only score 2 for the quarter and in almost surreal circumstances the Bloods found themselves 10 points up - a 35 point turnaround from half time. Skills had improved and a stronger performance from the back half saw the ball in our forward line for much of the quarter. Jimmy Paul was providing great run and our error count was way down. Meehan’s quarter of 6 goals was one of the finest seen in recent time and his marking was just superb. Historians made comparisons to the iconic day at McKinnon several years ago when James Magee kick 6 in the opening quarter. BOO informed me that Trav had done a similar job at DeLa two years ago.
Coach Seccull warned that OMs would come hard and that is exactly what they did – in spades! Our mistakes returned and OMs ran riot. Lurkers were all over the lace and the Bloods failed to pick up those playing ahead of the ball. Robbo found Meehan for his 8th and both Collo and Trav also scored from way out. With 2 minutes left on the clock OMS scored 3 goals to clinch a 10 point win. Turnovers and failing to pick up opponents meant four points went begging.
At the end of the day we can’t just play one super quarter and one ok quarter and expect to win a match. The third quarter herculean effort and 8 goals haul for the game from Micky Meehan was ‘one for the ages’ and Trav’s superb 6 goals signalled that he is getting back to his best. Gledders was terrific and Hammer did well for much of the game. This week again too much was left to too few.
TEAM
|
1QG
|
1QB
|
Q1PTS
|
2QG
|
2QB
|
Q2PTS
|
3QG
|
3QB
|
Q3PTS
|
4QG
|
4QB
|
PTS
|
Old Haileybury
|
3
|
2
|
20
|
5
|
3
|
33
|
13
|
4
|
82
|
16
|
4
|
100
|
Old Melburnians
|
7
|
1
|
43
|
9
|
4
|
58
|
11
|
6
|
72
|
17
|
8
|
110
|
|
Old Haileybury
Goal Kickers: M. Meehan 8, T. Ridgway 6, A. Woltering , M. Collins
Best Players: P. Gleadhill, M. Meehan, T. Ridgway, J. Paul, H. McLauchlan, M. Seccull
After a slow start the Ressies came back strongly in the second quarter to be only 13 points down at half time. The boys we replaying with plenty of purpose in D Macs 200th game for the club. Schoey was getting plenty of the ball while Matt Mitchell was a good target up front. But the undefeated top side drew away in the second half and while the commitment didn’t drop off, fitness levels took their toll. Great to see Gilly and Vittas back while Schoey, Jason Toy and Richard Mathers were amongst the better players.
TEAM
|
1QG
|
1QB
|
Q1PTS
|
2QG
|
2QB
|
Q2PTS
|
3QG
|
3QB
|
Q3PTS
|
4QG
|
4QB
|
PTS
|
Old Haileybury
|
1
|
3
|
9
|
6
|
6
|
42
|
7
|
9
|
51
|
8
|
10
|
58
|
Old Melburnians
|
5
|
5
|
35
|
8
|
7
|
55
|
17
|
11
|
113
|
21
|
12
|
138
|
|
Old Haileybury
Goal Kickers: M. Mitchell 2, J. Bayard 2, T. Gill , A. Vitolins , R. Mathers , A. Schofield
Best Players: A. Schofield, J. Toy, D. Mackenzie, J. McLauchlan, R. Mathers, T. Coles
Injuries took their toll in the Thirds, especially in the second half. The boys took it right up to the top side in the first two quarters. Boffa was prominent up forward while the Floyd brothers were in the thick of the action across the centreline. But then the injuries began to mount and the visitors were able to dominate from thereon.
The U/19s recorded their first victory for the year with a resounding 28 point victory over Old Paradians. It was an armwrestle for the first three quarters. While we tended to dominate for much of the quarters, Old Paradians invariably scored a couple of late goals in each stanza. Jacko and Conts were playing well while Hamish Melville was playing well across the half back line.
The last quarter was tense, but in a masterful coaching move, skipper Reidy was moved to the forward line where he duly bagged three match winning goals. The boys, led by Traegs fought off a determined Paradians group in the last ten minutes to record a great win. This will do their confidence the world of good and more wins can be assured.
TEAM
|
1QG
|
1QB
|
Q1PTS
|
2QG
|
2QB
|
Q2PTS
|
3QG
|
3QB
|
Q3PTS
|
4QG
|
4QB
|
PTS
|
Old Haileybury
|
3
|
6
|
24
|
6
|
8
|
44
|
8
|
9
|
57
|
13
|
11
|
89
|
Old Paradians
|
3
|
2
|
20
|
7
|
4
|
46
|
9
|
4
|
58
|
9
|
7
|
61
|
|
Old Haileybury
Goal Kickers: J. Reid 3, S. Kenworthy 2, D. Secatore 2, M. McKinna 2, J. Conte , S. Tiv , D. Siapkas , J. Spasevski
Best Players: N. Jackson, J. Conte, M. McKinna, S. Kenworthy, B. Traeger-Haig, H. Melville
Last Modified on 27/05/2013 10:11