Seniors
A massive seven changes and two more debutants making it 38 players used for the year and 10 playing their first senior game in 2013. No doubt injury has made life difficult from top to bottom through the club over recent weeks but pleasing to see some of the players given an opportunity have grasped it firmly.
The seniors ventured to St Bernards for a game, which both sides had no doubt earmarked as being pivotal to getting their respective seasons back on track. St. Bernard's had recruited quite heavily in the off-season and yet had seen their season not take off in the way expected, whereas De La after a fast start had fallen to 2 defeats with last weeks against St. Bede's being quite disappointing.
We welcomed 2 more debutants in Steve Wall and Dave 'sticks' Convery into the line-up. Regulars Ben Humphrey and Jake Williams were back and joined by Mick Duggan, Luke Jarvis and James Hansen all in for their 1st senior game this year.
With all these changes and a makeshift on-ball division a lot was being asked of our very young and undermanned side, so we would have to be at our best and would need the more experienced players to take on more pronounced roles. Conversely the home side were bolstered by the inclusion of Solomon back from the Bendigo Bombers and in Merrington who kicked 7 last week the dominant tall forward on the park, so they were at full strength, and quite chirpy and upbeat about their chances. However, all that was merely conjecture as there was real doubt the game could actually be cancelled due to record rainfall over night Melbourne which had already seen all games at several venues cancelled and given past experience from visiting St. Bernard's it has a real propensity to become a heavy track, so we were hoping the trip out wasn't going to be wasted. After some initial doubts over rain and the conditions becoming even heavier after the reserves game it was a relief to actually have the game go ahead - and even better with the rain staying away. In fairness the track was quite ok.
Our inexperienced side was working very hard to minimise the stronger bodies of the home sides on-ballers and were largely being very effective with our defenders generally keeping the marking players quiet. No doubt the Bernies brain trust would have been surprised to see Jarvis line up at full forward as were longer term supporters too, but he was proving a valuable player and giving us more defensive pressure once the ball spilled. Actually, they probably spent the whole of the 1st quarter trying to work out who half the team was given so many new faces.
All the stats seemed to point our way at the 1st break with more clearances, more entries into the forward areas, more scoring shots and yet the scores were even as a result of some uncharacteristic errors early in the game. The worrying thing in many ways was would our profligacy in front of the goals come back to haunt us.
The 2nd quarter saw the game follow a similar pattern to the 1st where through Hine, Harry Haley, Semmel, Hansen, Vickers and Gotch aided by the very impressive Wall who's work once the ball hit the ground was providing us with another on-baller we were able to clear stoppages, pepper the score board, but we were not able to put the home side away, who were no doubt grateful for our wasteful efforts when shooting for goal.
The efforts of our defence were certainly frustrating the home side with a clearly frustrated Merrington deciding to dispense his own form of adjudication to proceedings with him engaging in a tete-a-tete with a number of defenders and being urged on in support by the vocal home crowd. It was however surprising that there was little or indeed no intervention from the officiating umpires given the number of players and flailing limbs involved. Outside of Vickers terrific long goal with a heavy ball and receiving plenty of encouragement and advice from the home team supporters on the boundary it was a lean quarter and we went into long break with a slender lead, which could have been so much more but for our poor kicking.
The 3rd saw a bit of a transformation come over the game with the home team settling into the contest somewhat better and finding some system allowing them to kick 3 goals to 1 and establish an 8 point lead at 3/4 time. That said we were again dominating the centre clearances with Hine in particular and Semmel helping us to clear the centre, but we were consistently falling down across half forward, which with a very small and inexperienced forward line was probably not unexpected. The home side support were demonstrating their helpful nature by providing advice to Tom Humphrey and discussing his parentage, but when upon meeting his mother, the advice strangely was not quite so forthcoming, and they sheepishly retreated into some more traditional support for their own team. (Tom proved how much he appreciated the advice with a clear best on ground performance).
The last saw the game take on an almost Jekyll and Hyde persona for De La with us again coming hard at the home team and after David Lowe had kicked a captains goal we took the initiative and looked to be in the ascendancy. A goal to Nick Roberts and it looked like the home side would again be denied as we took a 5 point lead at the half way mark of the last and be left wondering when their home ground would become the fortress they perceive it to be.
When Clinch marked just on the 45 it looked we had all the momentum, but a poorly executed handball led the ball being swept away and perhaps a golden chance in low scoring game had been squandered. Straight after this we forced a stoppage, Hansen cleared long and deep the ball forward where we had a running shot, missed what could have sunk St. Bernard's again, but it was yet another let-off. When Vickers was given a free kick on a tight angle a goal may have sealed the game, but his shot was wayward and from the resultant free the home swept the ball down the ground and kicked a goal that gave them hope, and gave the home support voice. From the next stoppage we cleared, but through a turnover in the middle of the ground they again went forward and goaled from a couple of very sloppy defensive lapses to wrest back control of the game and establish a 10 point buffer from which they would never be headed.
They slowed the game down and created stoppages all over the ground bottling the game up and we were unable to clear the congested areas, which allowed them to win the game.
I suppose when we analyse the game we won the stoppages, the centre clearances, the scoring shots, but our poor goal kicking had led to our defeat.
Positives for the day were the efforts of our debutants Wall and Convery were terrific and didn't look out of place in the hurly-burly, Tom Humphrey was able to keep Merrington ineffective for the game and held goalless, our more inexperienced on-ballers of Hansen and Haley were able to provide us with more options, Hine was terrific on-ball and our defensive pressure all day was great given how undermanned we were.
Despite all that - it was our 3rd loss in a row and one that we should look at as a game dropped, and with last years premiers as our next assignment we need to learn to take our chances in what is a very tight year. I still don’t know how we dropped this game – a woeful conversion rate, goaling at just 13% of forward entries and below 8% in the second when we dominated general play did not help but credit to the home side who kicked the clutch goals when needed.
De La Salle 6.17.53
St Bernards 9.9.63
Goal Kickers: S. Pickett , D. Lowe , L. Semmel , M. Hine , J. Vickers , N. Roberts
Best Players: T. Humphrey, J. Williams, M. Hine, L. Semmel, D. Lowe, J. Gotch
Reserves
De La Salle 11.6.78
St Bernards 5.4.34
After being threatened late in the third we pulled away for a solid win. Dan Close with 4 goals in a best on ground performance.
Goal Kickers: D. Close 4, A. Roberts 2, G. McDonough , H. Nicholson , S. Griffin , J. Fisher , J. Griffiths
Best Players: D. Close, B. Nethersole, P. Harrison, D. Hutchinson, R. McArdle, S. Griffin
Thirds
A very wet day at home up against top team Old Xavs. This was always going to be hard with depleted numbers and only having 18 while they had 24 on a very heavy track.
The boys started off well and held Xavs for most of the quarter with much of the play in de la’s half of the ground. Vivian Buckley came back to the club today and was one of the shining lights in the first quarter. And with Luke Williams lively all day until having to go off in the 3rd quarter with a back injury. Dan Griffin battled all day with Steve Hogan. The Boys battled all day and went down fighting but it was always going to catch up with us. Xavs had the legs and ran over us. The score line doesn’t really reflect the effort and how well the boys tried hard all day against all odds.
De La Salle 3.2.20
Old Xavs 18.11.119
Goal Kickers: D. Griffin , V. Buckley , N. Hogan
Best Players: D. Griffin, S. Hogan, A. Kneebone, B. Hill, V. Buckley, S. Woodcock
Club XVIII
Against competition benchmark we had plenty of opportunities to get closer. Heath Browning again BOG and Ryan Handcock with 4 goals led the scorers.
De La Salle 8.13.61
Old Xavs 13.9.81
Goal Kickers: R. Hancock 4, N. Stewart 2, J. Haley , H. Browning
Best Players: H. Browning, P. Monaghan, J. Hassall, B. Oakley, R. Hancock, J. Haley
19 Blues
For the first time in over a decade the 19 Blues find themselves out of the four. In a very tough and even competition a form reversal is required after the bye to get the season back on track.
De La Salle 6.11.47
OMs 10.11.71
19 Golds
In a replay of last year's grand final, Golds took on Parkdale, who are struggling this year at bottom of the ladder. Conditions were not to bad, considering the rain received over Friday night. The team started well, with a 4 goal to zero first quarter. The team used their speed and the space available on a large ground to take advantage. Unfortunately, after very promising start and an early goal, Matt Howard broke his thumb late in the 1st quarter and was taken to hospital. This left team with only one rotation on the bench. The 2nd quarter was not good and Parkdale struck back with a 4 to 1 goal qtr and the team rec'd a half time address to lift their game in the 2nd half. The 3rd quarter was good, with a spread of players all contributing with goals, ending with a De la 3 goal lead going into last quarter. The last quater was pretty even with both teams trying hard. In the end De la won by 3 goals, remaining equal 2nd on the ladder. There were many solid contributors on the day, with 9 individual goal kickers. Tim Shallue was very good in an on ball / defensive role and Darcy Craig carried the ruck most of the day and did a great job. Jake Pironovo was dangerous down forward and Daniel Anastasiou was again good with 2 goals. Dylan Kelly did great job in the mid field, using his speed to burn-off opponents and Lachie Carracher was strong in defence.
De La Salle 11.9.81
Parkdale 8.6.54
Goal Kickers: D. Anastasio 2, J. Dennehy 2, T. Fisher , T. Still , J. Pirovano , M. Howard , P. O'Brien , L. Feather , M. Harris-Jaffe
Best Players: T. Shallue, D. Craig, D. Kelly, J. Pirovano, L. Carracher, D. Anastasio
Last Modified on 13/10/2013 11:35