Aspley
Hornets U 12 Brown Vs Calamvale 21st June 2009.
What
a great team effort against a very determined and tough opposition. Aspley
hosted the Leopards, at our main oval who could only field 18 players which
meant it would be 16 on 16 on the field for this game. The team ran onto the ground with the Aspley
Club song playing, just like the Seniors.
The
first quarter belonged to the Leopards. Our
boys got it out of the centre early but could only manage a couple of points. Calamvale moved it forward through their
taller players with some massive kicks which skipped forward in the wet
allowing them to convert 2 good goals. Their
loose man in the backline proved very effective and made it very difficult for
our forwards, remembering that we did not have any pockets. They had more commitment on their attack on
the ball and were getting first use of it, which had our players chasing them
for much of the quarter.
Reevsie
asked the boys to commit to the football in the 2nd quarter and we
bottled the ball up in our forward line with a lot more effort in attacking the
ball. Problem was we could not convert and ended up kicking 1 goal 6 behinds
for the quarter. Pouring rain did not
assist our kicking. The goal was kicked
by Kelley from the pocket, which was a great effort considering the conditions.
The Leopards kicked another goal, the first time they went forward, again with
some very good ball movement. Our backs
dug in deep after this and held them scoreless for the rest of the quarter. A great effort by the back 6, who again worked
their butts off to repel any Leopard attacks.
The
next quarter saw another great tussle between the 2 sides with our commitment
to attack the football waning slightly. The
boys must remember that to build scoreboard pressure they must have the ball in
their hands and forget about tussling with players who most of the times are a
lot bigger and stronger than us. Late in
the quarter, when we did attack the football, and cleared it out of the scrimmages,
it resulted in our only goal in the third term, a great roving goal to Alex,
who was one of the players from our Div 4 team, filling in to cover a few of
the team who were away on school camp.
Again,
Reevsie asked the boys to give their all in the last quarter, and stick to what
they have been practising since the beginning of the season. Especially there attack on the football. To their credit, the whole team hit the field with
their focus only on attacking the ball, no matter what. There were some gutsy efforts with no thought
of pulling out of any contest. The
Leopards seemed intent on attacking the player instead of the ball which
resulted in free kicks, which allowed the boys to move the ball forward on
numerous occasions. The back line again
held firm and kept clearing it back into our forward line. Unfortunately we
kicked another 4 behinds which drew us ahead of the Leopards score of 24 points
(4 goals straight), until Brad kicked a fantastic running goal which all but
sealed the game for the Hornets. Brad
was another player, playing up from our Div 4 team. (many thanks too Alex and
Brad) Only 1 other behind was
kicked before the hooter sounded.
It
was hard for Reevsie to pick our best players on a day like this, as it was a
team effort which saw us get over the line. All 20 players including our bench, which was rotated
throughout the game, gave 100% effort to get us the result. However the awards
went to the following six players, and deservedly so. Luke Nicholls, Adam
Faulkner, Bradley Bates, Alex Laube, Daniel Fischle & Cody Bailey. Well
done boys.
The
most important thing to come out of the game is that every player must remember
to focus on attacking the football. The
team that controls the football will ultimately build scoreboard pressure, as
proven in the last term. It is a more
enjoyable game when you can make the opposition chase you all day, rather than
the other way around. Sure there will
always be some big hits, but if the whole team focuses on attacking the ball, and
helping out a team mate the rewards will come. It also makes it easier to do the 1 percenters
when controlling the footy, which are very important to carrying out the team
strategies each week.
Today’s
game was a real gutsy team effort, which I am sure, all the parents were very
proud of every single player. Reevesie
certainly let it be known after the game of what his thoughts were, “Guts,
Guts, Guts”
Final
score was Aspley 3– 14 - 32 to Calamvale 4 - 0 – 24.
Goal
kickers, Kelley 1, Bradley 1, Alex 1.
Next
game is on the 12th July at Alexander Hills
at 9.00am. So it will be important for
all the boys to attend as many training nights as possible during the next
couple of weeks.