The gloom that had descended on the Club upon “winning” the wooden spoon for 2016 was quickly dispelled when Tom Mitchell was appointed Coach and it became clear he would bring in new players of considerable quality. Tom’s father, Jamie, the Assistant Coach and an accredited personal trainer, soon had a sizeable number of players doing the work required to lift standards. The result was that the rapid improvement became obvious during a practice match against a strong opponent at Wesley Vale in March.
The season got off to a fine start with a dominating win over Yolla on Gala Day. The first real test came the following week at Ridgley. A big second quarter gave us a 17 point lead at half-time, but the Saints fought back to get within a kick. A screamer to Tyller Keene in the last minute ended their hopes and we came away with the 4 points by 4 points. A measure of the improvement which continued to occur during the season can be seen in the margins of later matches against Ridgley - 48 points at Wivenhoe in Round 8 and 39 points at Ridgley in Round 15.
Round 2 brought a reality check with an 88 points loss to Somerset, followed by an 86 points hammering from South Burnie – those two clubs would go on to be the Grand Finalists – before a return to the winner’s list against Queenstown. Tom Mitchell kicked 10 of the team’s 17 goals in this 44 points victory. The match at Natone was up for grabs late but we weren’t quite ready to grasp it, going down by 14 points. Then came a 4 match streak (for the first time since 2005), beating Cuprona, Yolla (by a record Club margin of 180 points), Ridgley and Somerset. The match at Langley Park was a ripper, with the Robins racing away to a 92 to 62 victory, the best performance so far. Unfortunately, it also brought a huge blow, with Tyller Keene going down with a season-ending knee injury two minutes from the final siren. We were now in the top 3, with 7 wins and 3 losses and a percentage of 135.
A ferocious encounter with South Burnie followed – let’s just say the send-off rule got a good workout – before a best-forgotten trip to Queenstown (yeah, it was gross – we lost by 144 points!) Suddenly, our percentage had dropped to 106 and we were fifth on the ladder.
The good thing to come out of the annual gravel experience was a surprise victory to the Reserves – in sensational circumstances. With the Crows well ahead early in the last quarter, Gary Pearce drew the umpires’ attention to a shortage of players on their bench, meaning they had an excess on the field. After a count, their score was reduced to zero, with Yeoman still on 4.7 (31). Queenstown spent the rest of the match attacking, scoring 5.6 (36). But, the Robins had managed a forward thrust, from which Max Young goaled. Even then, the Crows were on the verge of wiping out the one point margin when our frantic timekeeper, Ron Chequer, managed to overcome an electrical fault and blew the siren 30 seconds after time was due!
Talk about bouncing back as soon as possible. The next Seniors match, against Natone, went down to the wire. A late snap from the goalsquare by Brodie “Lemons” Lamont gave us a 2 point victory, 119 to 117. This meant that, after 13 games, South Burnie was the only team we had yet to defeat.
The 15 July match at Cuprona was a real disappointment. You won’t win many games kicking 6.16, particularly when the opposition is on an even keel at 13.13. The message was that we still had plenty of work to do. Another record-breaking win against Yolla followed (188 points), before the return to Ridgley’s unique ground. Victory there had us in fourth spot with a percentage of 118.
These two wins against the bottom two sides were followed by losses to the top two, Somerset (under lights at Wivenhoe) and South Burnie, before the final roster match against Queenstown at Wivenhoe. By winning that one, we held on to fourth spot from Natone, whose percentage was much better. We finished with 11 wins and 8 losses with 108%. The Reserves had scraped into the Final Five, courtesy of Gary Pearce’s mathematical skill at Queenstown, with 28 points from 18 matches and 65%.
The Elimination Final saw us take the field with a depleted side – Bob Wynwood out injured, Nick Mitchell playing under duress – and Natone jumped to a 32 points lead at quarter-time. We fought back in the second half, but the Magpies proved too strong, winning by 37 points. The Reserves found Cuprona much too experienced in their Elimination Final.
So came to an end a season which promised a lot and delivered plenty. Despite the disappointment of not winning a Final, there was much to celebrate. Yeoman had won more games than in any season since 2005 and could look to the future with rising confidence.
Last Modified on 28/01/2019 07:41