Seniors
De La Salle was outclassed by an impressive Beaumaris today. Kicking with the breeze we started well but Beaumaris wrestled back control and when they led at the first change it looked like being a tough day. We hung in for a long period in the second and with the ball locked in their forward arc for nearly the entire quarter it was a Herculean effort from the defenders to restrict them to just 3 goals. However we did not add to our quarter time score of 3.1 and never really threatened. For a time this had all the makings of being a very ugly score line however credit to the lads as they dug deep to limit the damage in the second half. A particularly brave effort kicking 4 goals into a stiffening breeze in the last quarter.
Like last week the endeavor, effort and commitment could not be faulted however our execution with ball in hand was very poor. The opposition was good enough to make us pay for our errant disposal and kicked countless goals from direct turnovers.
In just his third senior game across several seasons Luke Williams had a break out game and has really taken his chance. Dan Close, another who has had limited opportunity in the seniors and has battled constant injury has had great start to the season and his effort on an ex AFL player today was exceptional. Despite the defence being under siege all day Tom Humphrey was again rock solid and for the second week in row his direct opponent had no impact. On the back of a good performance last week Sam Williams was again a good 4 quarter contributor.
However need more consistency across the whole 22 and will be looking for a better team effort next week against Old Brighton.
QTR 1 Game opened at a good pace with closely contested clashes. Beaumaris made intentions clear with close checking on Sam Williams, Matt Fieldsend and Jake Gotch. Quickly B’maris goaled, going arguably to slightly the worse, tennis club end, through clever play by the talented Cathcart.
DLS responded with 2 goals to Tim Allan, the first from hit up by Sam W to Tim’s fast lead and the 2nd from a scrum in goal square. Then Matt Fieldsend affected a turn over and stab passed to Jake Gotch for a goal that gave DLS the lead. B’maris kicked the next 3 goals with 2 coming from Cathcart to lead by 7 points at Qtr time.
QTR 2 After 10 minutes of intense contest swinging between half forward lines B’maris scored 3.9 to DLS zero to establish a winning 34 point lead at half time.DLS had 4 - 5 good scoring opportunities, particularly in the 1st 10 minutes of the quarter but due to inexperience, over exuberance and, probably, over estimation of our capacity, these chances went begging! B’maris contributed to their return by taking longish shots from the difficult RHS pocket.The work of the defence, with Ned Murphy, Tom Moloney & Tom Humphrey nullifying highly credentialed opponents, was outstanding. Our inability to clear the ball from the defensive zone, particularly after the 1st 10 minutes referred to previously was critical.
QTR 3 B’maris dominated early but added only 1.5 before DLS through 1st gamer Nick Hyland marked strongly at CHF for our 1st score since the 1st Quarter! B’maris added a further 2.3 before Dan Close who was doing a superb “run with” role on Clarke, was freed in a fierce contest andcompleted a fine bit of play with DLS’s 5th goal. For the 2nd time in the match DLS was denied a goal when Tim Allan marked close to goal and handballed to an unmarked teammate in the GS (Josh Oakley I think) just as the siren rang!
QTR 4 10 goals (4 by DLS) were scored in a good display of fast moving football which was In sharp relief from our 1st game against Old Scotch! For DLS there were passages of fine footy with Tom Moloney’s run through centre and pass to Tim Allan for a goal was exhilarating. As was Charlie Haley’s 2nd goal for the quarter, this one from a long run out of centre followed by an long accurate kick!Allan kicked his 4th from a superb pack mark at CHF.
Summation: Apart from the last half of the 2nd quarter DLS was competitive with deficits in the other quarters being 7, 6 & 15 points. Good to see Luke Williams put in what I think was his best performance for the seniors. Brother Sam was superb all match despite the hard close checking.The rucks broke even but B’maris on ballers nullified much of their good work. Co captains Matt Fieldsend & Jake Gotch worked tirelessly.
I realise many supporters were disappointed with the game, but I discerned a substantial improvement on game 1 this time against a superior team who played particularly well. The unforced errors, which continue to be problematic, put the team under much undue pressure whiledenying us the opportunity to exert scoreboard pressure.
Get to the rooms on Thursday night and encourage the boys. I reckon by season’s end DLS will be a very competitive unit!
De La Salle 9.6.60
Beaumaris 16.19.115
Goal Kickers: T. Allan 4, C. Haley 2, J. Gotch , N. Hyland , D. Close
Best Players: L. Williams, D. Close, T. Humphrey, S. Williams, J. Gotch, T. Moloney
Reserves
Again the undermanned and underdone twos were well off he pace and were never really in the hunt.
De La Salle 7.7.49
Beaumaris 19.10.124
Goal Kickers: S. Hogan 3, D. Millwood , O. Persson , J. Phillips , A. Kneebone
Best Players: O. Persson, A. Kneebone, K. Grant, J. Bull, R. McDonough, D. Millwood
19 Blues
This week the Blues were home to Xavier, (who again have started the year well, with a win last week by 30 goals against OMs). It was a close game all day, but Xavier got over us late in the 2nd half, to win by 6. goals. We have played the top 3 teams in Premier in the last few weeks and we have kept improving. We now have a run of games where we have an opportunity put some wins on the board
Summary:
This week the Blues were at home to Xavier, who again have started the year well, with a win last week by 30 goals against OMs). The weather had started to clear when the game kicked off. It was a very even first quarter with both sides kicking 3 goals apiece. Aaron Wheatley was looking dangerous up forward with 2 early goals and Scot Vawser and Aaron Hay doing well in midfield
2nd quarter saw the Xavier score a couple of early goals. Blues responded well, with Adrian Indovino showing plenty of run through the lines and kicking a goal. Down back Sef McGraw and Hamish Ramsay started to take control with plenty of run from defence. Xavier kicked 3goals for quarter to Blues 2. Going into half time Blues trailed by 5 points.
3rd quarter saw Xavier come out strongly with a few early goals. Dave Commins moved down back to strengthen defence and give some run. Matt Colac, playing in the ruck, took a few telling marks around the ground giving some opportunities down forward to Aaron Wheatley with 2 more goals for the quarter. Xavier edged away to a 3 goal lead, with their 5 goals to Blues 3.
4th quarter started a fast pace, with both sides in hard at the ball and scoring goals. As the quarter progressed Xavier edged ahead with their tall forward line starting to take control. Darcy Craig moved back from the Ruck bolster defence, with Jack Gava also fighting hard against the talls. Unfortunately the Blues could not close the gap kicking 2 goals and Xavier 5.
Next week the Blues are away to Scotch, (who have started the year slowly) and presents the Blues with an opportunity to kick off a win.
De La Salle 10.6.66
Old Xavs 16.12.108
Goal Kickers: A. Wheatley 4, J. Howard 2, S. Marchese 2, D. Craig , A. Indovino
Best Players: S. McGraw, D. Commins, S. Vawser, A. Wheatley, A. Indovino, M. Colak
19 Golds.
In what has been a bleak start to the year for the clubs the Golds are the shining light. A comfortable win and now sit second on the ladder.
The weather can be a great leveller in footy and with rain, wind and surface water on the ground the spectacle was never going to be one for the purists, however both teams committed themselves to trying to play open, expansive and attacking footy.
The game against Monash Blues was probably closer than the score indicates, as both sides played a very competitive game of footy in what were some pretty terrible conditions.
With slippery conditions making the ball hard to mark, trap and effectively kick it was pleasing the Golds looked to play to the style that they have worked on at training - looking to run in numbers, looking to get the support players come from behind and looking to run and carry the ball over the congested areas. All these thing are much easier to accomplish on dry days, so whilst the game was filled with skill errors they were due more to the players looking to carry out the game style in awful conditions rather than a lack of ability on the part of players.
Both sides were probably satisfied at the 1/4 time break as the score were pretty even with 1 goal apiece, however it was in the 2nd and 3rd quarters that the De La players were terrific, they ran to receive, they kicked to the advantage of their team mates and they worked terrifically hard to restrict their opponents scoring opportunities.
With 6 goals in the 2nd and then a further 6 in the 3rd while keeping their opponents goal less it effectively sealed the game as a contest, although Monash were not without opportunities, but were held out due to the efforts of the defence of De La where players were able to win their individual battles and clear the defensive area.
The attacking intent of the Golds was terrific during the 2nd and 3rd quarters with the players looking to get involved as the ball was flipped around by hand, and generally the kicks into the forward line being delivered deep where it was making the work of the Monash defenders uncomfortable.
The last quarter was a bit of an anti-climax as the sting had really gone out of the game and as the coaches tried to see how players performed in different roles. As such Monash won the last and but for some sloppy finishing could have breached the gap a little more, but De La kicked a steadying goal to slow the momentum of Monash and bring some relief to a somewhat frazzled coach frustrated at the wastefulness of the players.
Overall a really pleasing performance with the coach seeing the team has a good work ethic, the players enjoy working together and that they have a willingness to play for each other all which are ingredients for any successful team.
A brief summary would be as follows: it was good to see a number of players for the 1st time this year, Jack McLoughlin, Adam Tonkin, Will Agar (brother of some other bloke), Wade Wright and Ollie Milner, it was pleasing to see the tireless efforts of Michael Lee, Mase Martinez and Dean Krelle and the run and carry of Tom Brasher, Anthony De Luca, Dave Marchese and Tom Still and the improved work rate of Jack Hanley and Matt Howard. In coach speak it was 'a good solid performance, and we're happy with the 4 points.'
We look forward to seeing good numbers on the track this week (and every week) because a number of players missed a game this week and selection will be based upon players efforts at training along with their match day performances.
The result leaves us with 3 wins, in 2nd spot and playing at home next week at 2.00 pm against Peninsula who had a game "washed out" whatever that means.
De La Salle 14.9.93
Monash Blues 4.16.40
Goal Kickers: M. Martinez 3, D. Krelle 2, J. McGAW 2, O. Milner , W. Wright , M. Howard , J. Dennehy , T. Hyland , L. Feather , M. Laoumtzis
Best Players: M. Martinez, W. Wright, O. Milner, M. Lee, M. Laoumtzis, C. Akritidis
Last Modified on 29/04/2014 15:05