Following a hard fought win against the Northern Knights, the Rebels travelled to Skilled Stadium for their Round 9 clash with the undefeated Geelong Falcons, the curtain raiser to the NAB AFL National U18 Championship match between Vic Country v Vic Metro.
The aura provided by an AFL venue and a match between the two ladder leaders was not lost on the Rebels playing group, who welcomed Jordan Dillon for his first appearance. The first centre clearances went the way of the Rebels with Dillon and Josh Free combining well move the ball forward. Chris Giampaolo found Kevin Bourke who, in turn, passed the ball to Oliver Tate who snapped a goal at the 4 minute mark of the quarter. Giampaolo’s goal a minute later and goals to Parish and Close gave the Rebels a handy lead, with Darmody, Slabbert, Tate and Cowling stout in defence to keep the Falcons goalless for the term.
Dean Gavin was busy from the bounce in the second term, and Oliver Tate’s second goal was the result of a terrific chase and tackle by Dylan Parish to force an error, which saw a quick series of handballs to Tate who finished well. The Falcon’s first goal came after 11 minutes, assisted by a 50 metre penalty. Overuse of the ball by the Rebels, particularly with handballs, gave the Falcons further opportunities and they won more of the contested ball, although the Rebels managed to hold a ten point lead at the main change.
The Falcons re-grouped, as expected, and moved the ball well to goal after two minutes, aided by some poor coverage from the Rebels defence. As in previous weeks, Rebels players contested with each other in the air to allow the opposition chances at ground level. The Falcons then swooped, running the ball confidently to score 4 more goals before Matthew Sully steadied to peg one back, after a precise delivery from Kevin Bourke. Chris Giampaolo roved a direct hit from Jake Garvey at a boundary throw in to goal, but the Falcons continued to win the boundary stoppages and contests around the ground, to realize an eight goal quarter and a 25 point lead at the last change.
Jordan Dillon continued to win centre bounce contests and Lucas Cook presented well and marked strongly in the early stages of the last quarter, but the Rebels missed scoring opportunities on the run and from a set shot, which made the task of overhauling the Falcons even harder. Jordan Dillon was moved forward and he marked and goaled at the 18 minute mark to cap off an impressive debut. The final siren however, saw the Falcons win the day to remain at the top of the TAC Cup ladder.
With a Development Round next weekend, the Rebels players have the opportunity if fit to go back to local football and also have an opportunity to reflect on their performance and prepare for the trip to Carrara, to do battle with the Gold Coast FC.
Last Modified on 03/06/2009 09:55