Hello all.
First let me apoligise for not having a match report last week. What a great week it was with a clean sweep of wins against our old enemy in Wilston Grange. A large crowd added to the atmosphere of the day and this no doubt added to the performance of all of the sides. Congratulations to Tony, Bear and Damian for some good coaching to get us over the line.
This week we faced Maroochydore, the Under 18's and Reserves were ahead of us on the ladder with their Under 18's undefeated for the year.
Springwood 18's vs Maroochydore
Final score: 10.8 (68) d 6.6 (42)
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At home this week to the undefeated Maroochydore 18's was going to be a welcome test for the boys to gauge how we were travelling, especially after such a good win the previous week against Wilston Grange.
We were unsure of what we would be up against with Maroochydore's recent junior success, by way of a great junior program and the promoting of their under 18's consistently through the reserves and seniors.
The footy continued along the same as the previous week with tight, hard and fast football from both sides, neither side could establish a break. A great first quarter from Balmy, Rowie and Gus with back line support from Nate we were able to stay with them to go to the break only a couple of points down. The tight tussle continued till half time with our boys getting on top by a goal going into the break. Sam Raymond was standing tall along with all the back line, Gus, Raaby, Cal, Rowie and Rocket were slowly starting to control the middle.
After the main break we came out confident in knowing we were a chance to knock off the top team if we kept up the pressure and played our style of footy. Maroochydore lost a couple of players in the second half in addition to one or two going up to play reserves, this left them with no bench from about three quarter time onwards. Big Dan Willaton by going into the back line, changed the game, with his aggression at the footy and class in reading the ball coming into their forward line.
Jared Isbel gave us lots of midfield drive and also nullified the dangerous no 17 for the opposition.
The final quarter saw the boys stamp their authority on the game, with a 4 goal quarter, all be it up against a very brave and tired opposition. Best games of the year for Hayden Day, Angus, and Willo.
Lincoln Opbroek and Rocket Menz continued their fine form, Callum was good both in the air and on the ground, Matty Iervese showed a fantastic team attitude on and off the ground. Reece Adams and Nate Murcatt were again great down back. Andy also had a great last quarter.
Another fantastic team effort, and another step in right direction in regards to the footy that we will need to be playing by the end of the year if we are to have some success.
Next week and we play another top team, who will line up completely different as to when we played them in the preseason. So, some more hard work this week in a big effort to go to 6 straight wins in a row and establish ourselves in the top group on the ladder.
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Goals: 2 A.Hubert , 2 B.Cherry , 2 C.Eddy , 2 H.Day , 1 L.Opbroek , 1 B.Menz
Best Players: A.Hubert, N.Murcatt, D.Willaton, J.Isbel, H.Day, D.Raabe
The reserves was a must win game for the club with a loss seeing us drop 2 games out of the final five. Considering the importance of the game we did not start well with a lot of simple errors and poor decisions costing us many opportunities to score. The mid field were doing well with Menz, Murrihy and Kassulke leading the way, a lot of opportunities were wasted with the forward line dropping a lot of opportunities and the small forwards were not keeping the ball in. The back line was solid with Sharkie and Robbie doing a great job to keep the damage to a minimum.
Quarter time scores: Pumas 1- 1 - 7 Marocchydore 3 - 3- 21
The second quarter was more of the same with no intensity around the ball, Will Sutton was starting to find the ball and AJ was doing his best to lift the side. This was probably the worst quarter of football for the year with nothing working well.
Half Time scores: Pumas 1 - 3 - 9 Maroochydore 5 - 5- 35
A completely different side come out after the long break, the intensity around the ball increased and we started to win a lot of contested ball. Big Bear down forward started to grab his marks and all of a sudden we had a structure that was working. Some showers blew in which did not help our fight back but the work rate continued to increase. The delivery into the forward line was improving giving the forwards some one on one opportunities. Lewie continued his good form and was moved to give some more grunt down forward.
Three quarter time scores: Pumas 5 - 3- 33 Maroochydore 8 - 5- 53
The final quarter was a classic with both sides giving every thing they had to get over the line. The mid field was well on top and were giving the forwards plenty of chances. We had a few opportunites that were let slip and at the end of the day we were little unlucky not to get over the line. Overall we had fallen into the old trap of not playing four quarters of footy and this is something that has to be fixed if we are to move forward, there were a few players missing from the side but this is no excuse for lack of effort that was displayed in the first half. Bear and Lenny have some work in front of them to get them into the finals from here but with the right attitude and a good game plan the chance is still there.
Final scores Pumas 8 - 6- 54 Maroochydore 8 - 7- 55
Best Players: Murrihy, Menz, Raudino, Sutton, Sipple, Friis, Lewis.
The seniors was a tough match to pick because of the inconsistent form of Maroochydore. Maroochydore had beaten sides we had beaten by more and lost other matches to sides we had defeated. There team seemed to structured in a very offensive fashion with a number of their forwards getting big goal hauls. It seemed the day was going to revolve around our backline, could they contain the Maroochydore forwards. The weather was not great with cold sweeping showers moving through on a consistent basis. The crowd numbers were down because of the weather but the canteen did well with hot food being snapped up.
The first quarter started as expected as a tight affair with the boys a little off target with their goal kicking but considering the conditions this was understandable. There seemed to be a bit of a hangover from last weeks great victory against Grange with some poor mistakes leading to some soft goals to the Roos. Brown was doing well, as usual Isles and Furfaro were doing well. The young full back from the Roos was doing well on Bridge but a lot of small forward opportunities went begging with the ball on the ground a lot. Eddy was playing a great game, his ability to find space is very important for the backs to find an outlet target.
Quarter time scores: Pumas 3 - 6- 24 Roos 4 - 1 - 25
Coach King had confidence in his players to turn the situation around and maintained the team structure with normal rotations continuing. The second quarter saw the pressure from the Roos come off a little, this allowed better delivery into the forward line which kept the ball in the corridor and improved our accuracy. The ball was moving much faster now and didnt allow the big Roos to move into defence to clog up the forward line, when combined with better intensity to keep the ball in the forward line the score started to mount. Rhan Hooper showed his class with some great touches to set up a lot of opportunities. Friis started to find his normal great form, he was almost impassable on the Half Back Line.
Half Time Scores : Pumas 8 - 6 - 54 Roos 7 - 3 - 45
The third quarter saw the dam start to break with the Pumas starting to dominate the contest. The Roos were throwing a lot of players behind the ball which made it difficult for them to get it past the centre line. Again the rain come in which assisted the Roos in keeping the damage in check.
Three Time Scores: Pumas 12 - 8 - 80 Roos 8 - 4- 52
The last quarter was more of the same with the only difference was a drop of intensity through the midfield which allowed a couple of soft entries into the forward line with their full forward finishing with 5 goals. Hoppy played a good game at full back against a very good player, his return should have been 3 goals if the players up the field had maintained their intensity. The Pumas roled along with another 5 goal quarter as the game was well and truely over.
Final scores Pumas 17 - 14 - 116 Roos 11 - 6 - 72
Overall the game was always going to be tough after the highly emotional victory over Grange the weekend before, the players did what they had to do to get over the line although not playing at their best.
This week see's the return of Proud, Thompson and Nash which will add a lot to the strength of the team. Jake King will also be better with another week under his belt after a severe concussion against Grange.
We travel to Sherwood this week to take on the Western Magpies in the match of the round. The Magpies are in the five and will be up and about trying to inflict the first defeat of the Pumas for the year. The Pumas haven't beaten the Magpies at their home ground since 2006 so it is going to be a big job by all to get up and play at their best. Come along and watch some great footy by your team.
Best Players: Brown, Eddy, Preston - Smith, Friis, Hooper ( 4 goals), Isles.
GO THE PUMAS
