REBEL YELL - ROUND 1
Monday, April 2, 2007
With Clayton Hinkley
Warrack Eagles export Clayton Hinkley is one of the North Ballarat Rebels three joint captains for season 2007 and a returning member of the 2006 squad. This week he starts the players' weekly diary about their involvement in the elite TAC Cup competition. The column will continue through the football season with selected squad members taking up guest writer duties.
The Rebels of 2007 began their journey in the latter part of last year. Around 120 players were put through their paces three nights a week through the months of November and December in the pursuit to reach the final playing squad.
Repetitions of 400m sprints and time trials led players to exhaustion and occasionally the odd regurgitation.
Eventually it came to the fun part of the season - practice matches. All the boys from Hamilton, Horsham and Ballarat regions came together and put their skills on display.
Many young boys coming through from the under-16s also showed promising signs. Finally all the hard-running training came to an end and the fellas began to start focusing more on the games than their fitness.
Our property steward Neil Lardner provided a highlight of the pre-season with a display of acrobatics in an attempt to balance on a footy during the team photo at Learmonth.
Ending his performance on his backside, he provided much entertainment and laughter to the boys and almost brought a tear to our Region Manager's eye!
The leadership group was selected last week with all the boys privately nominating their most respected teammates for leadership roles.
This year we only have six leaders, three captains and three vice-captains.
Rebels' vice-captains are John Delahunty, Kyle Cheney along with under-aged Nick Suban while our captains are Matt Austin, Archie Whiting and Clayton Hinkley.
Round One was going to be a tough one as we were drawn to play the Bendigo Pioneers and it proved to be just that. All week there was an exciting vibe among the boys at training, knowing the season opener was so close.
We knew we would not have our best side on the field after five or six St Pat's players were left out of the starting line-up due to school football commitments. It was a great opportunity for some new players to display their talent and experience TAC Cup footy.
The Pioneers booted four quick goals early in the first quarter to set a task for us. The game was hard and fast with lots of intensity. I, among many others, was really nervous before the game as we have trained hard all pre-season for this. We began to settle down after the first quarter to play our style of footy. We matched the Pioneers' running game and the scoreboard began to level out.
After half-time the Rebels lifted their game to come within two goals of Bendigo but despite our efforts they held the lead and kicked an extra couple to take out the match by seven goals.
There were mixed emotions in the rooms after the game. Many boys were disappointed with their performances.
All the boys know what parts of the game we lacked and are now eager to change that for Round Two against Geelong Falcons at Maryborough.
Better Rebels players on the day included Ryan Hobbs, Nick Peters, Matt Bilton, James Delahunty, Matt Austin and Kyle Cheney.
Match Details: Played 30/3/07
Bendigo Pioneers 13.20 (98) d North Ballarat Rebels 7.14 (56)
North Ballarat Rebels Goals: Matt Bilton 2, John Delahunty 2, Matt Austin, Ryan McKenzie, Jarred Chaplin.
Best: Matt Austin, Ryan Hobbs, Nick Peters, Kyle Cheney, James Delahunty, Ryan McKenzie.
Bendigo Pioneers Goals: Rhys Healey 2, Travis Matheson 2, Josh Gaylor 2, Blair Holmes 2, Steven Stroobants, Robbie Tarrant, Tim Brooks, Jordan Florance, Toby Thoolen.
Best: Scott Selwood, Robbie Tarrant, Rhys Healey, Toby Thoolen, Rex Taylor, Aarryn Craig.
Last Modified on 08/02/2009 16:14