Well it has been a long wait and a tough Pre-Season and everybody had Saturday 11th April etched in their brain as the first hit out for the year. In terms of tough assignments in amateur footy it doesn’t get much tougher than playing Williamstown away (reigning Premiers in D1) and running out to take them on shortly after they’ve just unfurled their 2014 premiership flag.
The Marcellin boys had put in a solid pre-season consisting of 3 weeks prior to Christmas and 11 weeks post-Christmas. It had consisted of fitness testing, skills work, contested footy drills, game simulation, theory work, a training camp and 3 practice matches. The boys worked really hard and improvement across all areas was evident. The 3 practice matches were good hit-outs for us and allowed us to fine tune bits and pieces before we got stuck into the real stuff.
So we headed out to Williamstown on Saturday confident that we had done the work and hoping that would translate to performance on the field. It was a perfect day for footy with clear skies and just a light breeze. After unfurling their premiership flag Willy jumped out of the blocks quickly which we knew they would and had a couple of goals on the board very early in the piece. They had a lot of the footy in the first 10-15 minutes and we were chasing tail.
Half way through the 1st quarter we managed to increase our intensity in and around the contest and started to win some of our own ball. We started to run harder and move the ball quicker into our forward line. I felt we had started to get back on a level playing field with them and were no longer chasing tail. To the boys credit they showed great resolve to dig deep and gain back some control. At quarter time the match was evenly poised with Marcellin just leading 4.5.29 to 4.3.27.
In the 2nd quarter we were kicking with a slight breeze so the instruction was to move it long and quick into the forward line. The boys played some good footy and our entry into the forward line was first class. Our intensity in and around the contest was very good and led to many opportunities up forward. Our pressure and tackling was also at the levels we needed it to be at. We had a good quarter and kicked 9 goals to 3 to go into the long break 6 goals up but knowing we had a lot of work still to do.
The talk at half time was about containing Williamstown in the 3rd quarter when they were kicking with the wind. We thought if we could break even then we’d be in a good position to run out the game in the last quarter. Well the boys did better than that they won the quarter convincingly and put us in a great position going into the last quarter.
In the final term our run and carry was very impressive and created lots of opportunities up forward. The boys willingness to work for each other and block, tackle and chase proved telling in our performance on the day. In the end we managed to pull away and eventually secured a 100+ point win which was very pleasing for everyone.
It was a complete team performance and what we need week in week out but I must make a special mention of Jeremiah Antypas who kicked 12 goals on the day in a stellar display of goal kicking. Congratulations Jez on a great game excellent reward for your hard work.
Next week we play Monash at Marcellin College for our first home game. We must switch our attention very quickly to Monash as they are a team we have had mighty battles with over the last couple of years. We must focus on getting back to basics and understanding what makes us a good team. We need every player playing their role and being 100% team focused. If we do that we will be competitive. If we don’t then we are vulnerable. Please get down to Marcellin this weekend to support the boys we would love your company.
Go Eagles!
Final score: Marcellin: 33-8-206 def Williamstown CYMS: 12-10-82
Goal Kickers: J.Antypas 12, D.McMahon 6, J.Bortolotto 5, J.Robertson 3, R.Costanzo 2, A.Beaini 2, J.Carlson, S.Considine, L.Rice
Best Players: J.Antypas, J.Blanch, J.Robertson, A.Beaini, A.Bonato, D.McMahon
Damien Theisz
Senior Coach
Last Modified on 14/04/2015 17:30