Seniors
A hard fought win in pretty tough conditions. Debutant Steve Hogan kicking two goals with his first 2 kicks got us away to a good start with the other debutant Dan Millwood also lively. For two and a half quarters we controlled the contest but the home side came back hard and with a limited bench we showed plenty of ticker to hang on for an important win. The leaders really stood up today with Fieldsend and Gotch outstanding. Young Liam Wood enjoying a good season played his best senior game while Oscar Persson was exceptional in the ruck. The defence was again very solid. This was a tough, physical contest at a ground very exposed to all the elements – and Mother Nature certainly delivered them today.
Match Report: A good, solid win yesterday. Conditions ok despite several heavy rain periods. An early scare when David Lowe was a late withdrawal, replaced by debutant Dan Millwood who performed creditably.
DLS started well going to the scoring end with the 8th 2014 debutant Steve Hogan marking and goaling within 4 minutes. The game was tense with each team sending many players to the contest causing multiple ball ups. DLS were pressing continually and Jake Gotch intercepted in traffic to goal. Hogan was in the mix again when freed in a marking contest to deliver his 2nd & DLS 3rd by the 15 minute mark. OB hit back immediately through a clever mark at half forward. (For OB their 2nd goal came 20 minutes into the 3rd quarter).
The forwards were working hard to keep the ball in our forward zone with strong tackles by Matt Moore and Josh Oakley going unrewarded by the officials.
The 2nd quarter began with DLS leading by 17 points and with OB determined to get back into the match going to the scoring end. The intensity had lifted until a brilliant snap by DLS Lachy Bull, following good ruck work by Oscar Persson, broke the dead lock after 20 minutes. Unfortunately for Lachy a rolled ankle finished his game shortly after.
The forward pressure was great and was only a matter of time before this produced results. Oscar again involved enabling Harry Haley to goal from a smart snap to give DLS a commanding 26 point lead, in a low scoring game, at half time.
DLS extended its lead to 36 points by midway through the 3rd term with goals to Jake Gotch and Charlie Haley each resulting from a string of possessions started by strong work inside by Matt Fieldsend and youngster Liam Wood.
OB was stung into action and they kicked the last 2 goals late in the term to reduce the margin to 25 points.
OB had to make an impact early in the final quarter but DLS defence which had been superb all game (all season to date really) held firm with Tom Moloney & Tom Humphrey impassable, aided by the strong marking of Ben Oakley returning to his familiar CHB position.
OB goaled twice at the 13 & 15 minutes mark to reduce the margin to a gettable 14 points. Alarmingly OB had then kicked the last 4 goals unanswered. Another promising move by OB was thwarted by Ben Oakley. DLS then shut the game down with numbers around each contest.
14 minutes of unproductive ball ups and tackles ended when Tom Humphrey’s kick from half back found Ed Clinch goal side of the OB defence for a match sealing goal.
Better players for DLS were: Liam Wood, a young tough on baller. Oscar Persson a good contributor in the ruck, Steve Hogan in his 1st game was brilliant early with Dan Millwood another 1st gamer, also playing well after getting a late call up and the usual suspects: Jake Gotch, Matt Fieldsend, Tom Moloney & Tom Humphrey.
Footnote: Those at the game will know that Tom McMahon sustained some serious facial fractures and a badly broken and lacerated nose in the 3rd quarter and was to undergo surgery at the Alfred on Saturday. Many at the club know how hard Tom has worked to get back to playing after some injury worries in the off-season. He was playing a blinder today until injured and we wish him a speedy recovery.
In other injury news the wretched run of Joel ‘Fish’ Phillips continues. Joel broke his collarbone again on Saturday, his third such injury in 4 years. In fact in each of the last 5 seasons Joel has sustained a major injury of some type. A senior quality player with immense talent, Joel must be wondering what he has done to deserve such a horrendous run of injuries.
De La Salle 8.8.56
Old Brighton 5.6.36.
Goal Kickers: J. Gotch 2, S. Hogan 2, L. Bull , H. Haley , C. Haley , E. Clinch
Best Players: M. Fieldsend, J. Gotch, L. Wood, O. Persson, T. Moloney, T. Humphrey
Reserves
The tough season for the 2s continued today. A few good signs early but we again fell away badly in the second half.
De La Salle 6.7.43
Old Brighton 19.18.132
Goal Kickers: M. Hogan 3, J. Bull , J. Fisher , N. Beaumont
Best Players: C. Athanassiou, J. Fisher, N. Beaumont, J. Bull, M. Hamilton, A. Forato
Thirds
Simply getting a team on the park this week was a win. Uni Blues have been one of the competition benchmarks at this level and while we were very competitive for a half, a lack of fitness and preparation told in the end. Nick Fyfield virtually straight of plane with 5 goals and Ed Espinosa the best. We look to build on this renewed commitment and effort in coming weeks.
De La Salle 6.7.43
Uni Blues 19.18.132
Goal Kickers: N. Fyfield 5, P. Proy , T. Kovarik , E. Espinosa , C. Watts , S. Bennetts
Best Players: E. Espinosa, N. Fyfield, S. Griffin, T. Leary, S. Brown, R. McArdle
19 Blues
This week the Blues were away at Scotch. Scotch’s start to the year had been slow and we looked forward to a good game and an opportunity for a win. Weather conditions were difficult and the game was close all day
1st quarter started at a fast pace with both sides attacking the ball and providing plenty of opportunities forward. Ollie Milner, in his first game in Blues, was strong in defence and provided good run and linkage forward. Aaron Hay was hard at the stoppages, giving De La good first use of the ball. James Howard kicked a couple of early goals. Scotch kicked 5 goals for quarter and De La 3..
2nd quarter saw Adrian Indovino gaining plenty of possessions and get a couple of crucial goals. Hamish Ramsay moved onto Scotch’s top forward and closed him down. Jake Pirovano started to gain ascendancy around the packs. Unfortunately Darcy Craig went down with a bad ankle and was lost for the game. Scotch kicked 3 goals for the quarter to De La 2. At half time De La trailed by 3 goals.
3rd quarter saw the weather change dramatically, with heavy rain and strong winds. Sef McGraw was taking control down back with the help of Joe Cox. Dave Commins and Matt Dumbleton were crashing through stoppages to win plenty of ball and De La won the quarter with a couple of goals to none. At the last change De La trailed by a goal.
4th quarter was still impacted by the bad weather, with both sides providing a hard contest at the ball. James Howard injured his ankle and Jack Gava moved forward to provide a good marking option. Despite plenty of opportunities De La failed to put a score on the board and Scotch scored the only goal for the quarter. Scotch running out winners by a couple of goals.
The team keeps improving every week and a win is not far away. Next week we are away to St.Bedes, (who are another team that have started the year slowly), and the game presents another good opportunity for a win.
De La Salle 7.5.47
Old Scotch 9.12.66
19 Golds
With the Gold sitting in the top 3 prior to the game there was a healthy dose of optimism yet the coach did stress that the ladder positions were probably not reflective of the true nature of where the teams stood. Hampton Rovers had a win and a close loss, so they were not to be treat lightly. However, that was what occurred the Golds probably thought to themselves it was just going to happen.
Kicking with the aid of what at the start was a slight breeze we continuously attacked the goals from the defensive side of the ground, which only served to allow the Rovers to easily mop up our futile attempts to score. A quick change with Matt Howard going to full forward helped and he immediately straightened us up - he took 2 strong marks kicked truly once and missed a sitter and we suddenly looked better. We nearly snatched a goal on the siren when Wright kicked on the run just as the siren sounded and after some lively debate by the oppo it was scratched off, but it certainly fired up the Rovers boys.
The 2nd saw the game take on what was a disturbing pattern with the De La on-ballers being led to the ball with the defenders being under siege as the Rovers mids and forwards repeatedly found space, an ability to out-mark, out-muscle and out-hustle their direct opponents. But for sloppy kicking in front of goals by Rovers and a bit of Tom Still magic with an outrageous banana kick for goal followed up by a Jake McGaw invisible man act where he found himself unattended in the goal square to kick truly from a bit of quick thinking from Tom Hyland De La could have found themselves in some much deeper goo at the main break, instead we went to the break with a slight 8 point lead.
The break saw the players cop a bit of a spray where the players were challenged and some of the overall deficiencies and sloppy habits that were evident were 'debated.' The coaches made with some positional changes, the players seemed invigorated and ready to play footy.
Immediately De La looked better with Wardlaw and Krelle getting on top in the ruck, Hanley, Stewart, Cooke, Marchese and McLoughlin all stared to get 1st hands on the footy and we cleared the centre area and started to push the ball forward and give our forwards scoring opportunities. In addition, the backs playing tighter and swarming all over their opponents and not allowing them the space they had in the 2nd the game started to swing our way.
The scoring in the 3rd probably didn't reflect it, but the game started to open up a bit and we found getting the ball a little easier as a result of hard work and sacrificial running along with Hampton not having those easy shots they enjoyed in the 2nd and we were winning more individual contests as opposed to either breaking even or just not making a contest.
By only looking at the scores it would appear that De La ran out with an easy win, but that was going to be dependent upon a couple of factors which were mainly up to the players themselves - were they prepared to run that little bit harder to make a contest, were they prepared to put their heads over the ball and take a hit to help win the ball and were they prepared to give the same level of effort they did in the previous quarter because Hampton were kicking with the aid of a strengthening breeze. To the players credit they raised their level of performance and played some very good footy to kick 5 to 1 in the last.
It wasn't a pretty game of footy, but it was a good standard game, Hampton can look back and think if they had kicked straighter in the 2nd perhaps the game may have panned out differently, but for De La it only confirmed to the players they need to work hard, sacrifice their individual goals and individual games and work for each other to achieve the desired outcome.
Upsides - with Matty Howard going down early we may have uncovered a new forward in Anthony De Luca, a terrific game from Chris Akritidis down back on a much bigger opponent, Liam McLuskey despite a physique like a broom stick is prepared to put his head over it, improvement from Tom Hyland and Jake McGaw, a much better 2nd half from Lachy Carraher, a strong 4 quarter game from Jack 'sideshow Bob' Hanley, another good game from Will Agar, Adam Tonkin and Wade Wright and some very good leadership from Dylan Cowan, Joel Stewart & Dave Marchese and a terrific game from the bloke who discovered Australia - James Cooke who found the conditions to his liking.
Downsides - an injury to Matty H, and the intangibles - probably getting ahead of ourselves before the game and back chatting the umpire - we need to get it right out of our system or it will only mean we will be playing 2 more opponents.
Just as an aside - it should be noted that the Golds are very much a development team as we have an average age of 17 1/2 and uh to my surprise we have a few 16 year olds too, so we need to be mindful that we as players, supporters and coaches don't place too many expectations upon this team, we're going well at the minute as we are coming up against much older teams and bigger bodies and as such it is very much a week at a time and performances can and will be spasmodic and sporadic. So far we have had 3 good weeks, and next week provides another challenge, so let's just see where it leads and enjoy the ride.
Next week - we play Old Haileybury at Princes Park as we look to string 4 quarters of footy together and see where it takes us.
De La Salle 14.8.92
Hampton Rovers 6.12.48
Goal Kickers: A. De Luca 4, T. Still 2, D. Marchese , J. McGAW , L. McCluskey , W. Mackie , J. Stewart , D. Krelle , T. Hyland , M. Howard
Best Players: C. Akritidis, W. Agar, J. Cooke, A. De Luca, D. Marchese, J. McLoughlin
Last Modified on 07/05/2014 21:13