By Alex Gubbins
Last weekend the Rebels had their second win of the year with a hard fought victory over Gippsland Power at Bendigo. Immediately our thoughts turned to the upcoming match against the Sandringham Dragons.
During the week the first round of the BAS school football competition started up which saw St Patrick’s College and Ballarat & Clarendon College have comfortable wins against Ballarat High and Ballarat Grammar respectively. This also meant that we had a fairly light week on the training track with the Rebels due to most of us playing an extra game during the week.
We were preparing to play against an undermanned Sandringham Dragons team that would be missing several players due to school football commitments. Much of the school football in metropolitan areas is played on the weekend meaning the TAC Cup teams often have players unavailable. However, this does not mean that the Dragons wouldn’t come out firing.
Like the Rebels they were 2-1 for the season and would be working hard to make it 3-1. With the game being played in Portland many of the players decided to travel down the day before so that they didn’t have to get up in the early hours of Sunday morning to be ready for our 11am match start.
With the inclusions of Ned Gilbert and Jason Linke, both back from injury, our running style of game was definitely going to be strengthened. Will Young fired up forward with six goals and Tim Ruffles snagged five as our forward line worked very well. In the end it was a very good win for us with everyone contributing as the Rebels ran out 89 point winners.
Next week there is a development weekend in our competition which means no TAC Cup teams will be playing a game. Our Vic Country U/18 representatives will be trying their best to show they should be in the Vic Country squad and all of the players and staff at the Rebels wish them luck. All other Rebels players will have the option to ether play for their home club or have the weekend off.
It’s been a great week for the Rebels as we have now won three games in a row and we hope to keep up our good form in the coming weeks.