Hello all
Another great day for the Pumas saw all three teams get over the line. The Under 18's played at Mayne whilst the seniors and reserves played at Burleigh.
There had been a lot of rain at Burleigh making the conditions difficult for the reserves. The conditions suited some of our players like Barnesy and Ryan Ross who both had good games. There is no doubt this was the best game the reserves have played all year and just showed what might have been. The game was low scoring and did not suit the big guys but to his credit Chris Kassulke tried all day and won the ruck battle. Other players to have good games were Charmo who was clearly best on the ground his attack on the ball and clean hands were a stand out. Robbie down back played his normal great game reading the play and always being in the right spots. Will Sutton played a real small mans game, he was always in and under and played the conditions well. Jordan McKinley played his best game for the year and is really starting to develop his skills.
The reserves did not have any passengers with Greeny down forward starting to learn the small man role in the forward line which we all know is a tough one to learn and will take some time. All in all a very gutsy and impressive win which has made it difficult for Burleigh to make the finals. Other sides will now be worried when they come up against the Puma reserves.
Final scores pumas 7 - 6- 48 Burleigh 4 - 3- 27
My Best three were Charmo, Robbie and Ryan Ross. Well done guys.
The seniors were lucky to start the game in slightly better conditions with some of surface water being taken off the ground by the reserves. Although it looked like an easy game with Burleigh not winning a game for the year and the Pumas in second spot the truth was that all teams want to knock off the top teams and with the conditions it was going to be a hard slog. The game started with Burleigh up and about and giving it all they had, the normal Puma players Furfaro and Isles started the game on fire, despite a really hard tag on Proudy he was still able to have some real impact on the game.
Matty Preston Smith was having a terrific game and despite the ball being greasy was taking some strong marks, he dominated the Half Back Line. The conditions were really suiting Friis, his strength through the contests was a feature and was almost unable to be tackled. Pennycuick is starting to become a valuable member of the team since switching from Mt Gravatt, his ability to kick the long ball gives our forwards a real advantage by giving them one on one opportunities.
Dom Nash had an outstanding game on the wing, his ability to hit targets and be hard at the ball was fantastic.
The game was a tradesman like performance with the Pumas clearly winning every quarter and despite a couple of injuries was a game that we were happy to take the win and move on.
My plays of the day was hard to split betwen two so I decided to include them both.
Play 1: Jake Furfaro worked his was through a lot of traffic and despite a lot of pressure had the vision and poise to pass the ball to Dom Nash who ran in and kicked an easy goal, a real class piece of play by Jake.
Play 2: BJ had to run back with the ball which showed real courage to spoil a ball from an opponent who thought he was going to get an easy mark. There is no stat for this play but I thought it summed up the Pumas work ethic and particular;y how important BJ has become to the senior group.
Scores:
Pumas 3- 5- 23 Burleigh 1 - 5- 11
Pumas 8 - 7- 55 Burleigh 3- 5- 23
Pumas 12 - 11 - 83 Burleigh 5 - 6- 36
Final score Pumas 17 - 17 - 119 Burleigh 7 - 7- 49
My best players.
I think this was my hardest pick for the year, in the finish I could not split Brendon Isles and Jake Furfaro who both had fantastic games. In the next group I could not split BJ and Matty Preston- Smith. And in the last group I could not split Friis and Pennycuick. Well done to all players.
I feel guilty because I could not squeeze a lot of other players into my best players like Nash and Jake McGill so I apoligise to these guys. All in all again we had no passengers and all the players did their jobs in tying conditions so congratulations to all.
This week we return to to Lowe oval the home of the Pumas to face University who really gave us a hard game last time we played. Their reserves beating ours and the seniors being in the contest until deep into the last quarter so this should be a competitive match for all to watch.
Hopefully we are due for some good weather which should see some open quick classy football so I hope to see you there.