Kenmore U18 side finished the 2008 season as the Minor Premiers of the Division 2 North teams. They performed strongly for all 15 rounds and were able to develop into a good running side through the season, which is a benefit to the young men and the coaching staff that guided them throughout the year.
Because of training limitations with no real home ground for the season, most of the training was at Kenmore Juniors fields away from the Senior squads at Kenmore. Regardless, a number of young players impressed and played for the Senior sides at various times. Daniel Wayne, Tom Baldwin, Nick Ielasi, Andrew Plummer, Stephen Dawes, George Hadden, and Stuart McCristal all played Seniors football. With more boys getting a chance with the Reserves including Max Rankine.
Towards the business end of the season a lot of the players even increased training to three nights a week under Frank Dimasi and Glenn Wayne. It all seemed to pave the way for an improved running game and increased fitness for the squad and it showed during the finals series. After close games with Noosa during the normal season Kenmore won at a home final at Chelmer, before having a week off awaiting the Noosa v Nambour preliminary final.
The Grand Final was always going to be a tough contest but Kenmore were able to get on the scoreboard early in the contest and slowly start to build a lead thanks to the ruck work of Andrew Plummer and clearance work of Tom Baldwin, Jesse Dimasi and Daniel Wayne around the packs. The on ball pressure and tackling of Kenmore was at a high level. By half time, strong performances by the defenders Sasha Shmakov, George Hadden, Daniel Hope, Stuart McCristal, Jonnie Thynne and Daniel Bartlett had restricted the opportunities of Nambour so that Kenmore would lead by four goals.
The hard work was all across the field and captain Ben Allen-Ankins started getting a lot more of the ball to keep Kenmore on the attack in the third quarter, but Daniel Hope who was moved to the wing really started getting involved to the benefit of Matt Bennison and Sam Tremellan and Ben Boston up front. Kenmore extended the lead to six goals.
Even with an uphill battle Nambour fought to the final siren and played a hard game to the end. The Kenmore boys were able to maintain pressure right throughout the contest to win by 27 points. Best on Ground was awarded to Tom Baldwin.
Congratulations again, to coach Frank Dimasi and all those involved with the 18's side this season. A deserved reward for hard work!
Last Modified on 05/12/2008 13:31