Round 8 had Thomastown go up Plenty Rd to take on Mernda. Changes for the week were Zurek out injured, Bonacci unavailable and Ristic back for a game in the Reserves, in came David Wall, Nicholas Horman and Matt Chesher for his first Senior game.
Thomastown got out of the blocks early after Wall was infringed after disposing of the ball and opened the Bears score with the first goal of the game. The remainder of the quarter was tight and keen contest with Thomastown trying to break through the flood of Mernda defenders and being forced to take shots from distance out from goal. Thomastown were getting good drive off the wings through Rachrache and Wall, Berak in the middle and Volpe on the half back flank. Curran for Mernda was able to slip in behind the Thomastown defence and kicked 3 goals for Mernda for the quarter. At quarter time neither team were able to get away from each other and scores were level. Unfortunately for Thomastown Captain Barry McDonald was forced off with injury for the remainder of the game.
The second term saw Thomastown slip up a gear and started to move the ball quickly into the forward line with a good result. Goals to Calafiore, Nedelkovski, Belbasis and Holmes saw the Bears slip out to a four goal lead. Thomastown were able to extend the lead with a few more goals before Mernda again responded with four late goals to reduce the half time margin to 9 points.
After half time Thomastown came out and started to move the ball in a more direct fashion to goal. Holmes started to take control in the ruck and gave the Thomastown on ballers first use of the ball from the middle. Schwabl moved on to the dangerous Curran and with the run of Berak, Rachrache, Spiroski, Abela, Folino and Volpe, the Thomastown forwards were able to break the Mernda defensive shackles which resulted in Thomastown being able to kick 8 goals 8 for the quarter to Mernda's 2 goals 2 to go in at the final change with a 51 point lead.
The final quarter saw a stop of the defensive tactics and the game opened up for both sides. Thomastown finished off the game with 7 last term goals to Mernda's 5 to go on to win by 63 points. Main goal kickers for the Bears were Berak with 5 and 3 each to Calafiore, Nedelkovski and Belbasis. Good players for Thomastown were Berak, Rachrache, Folino, Spiroski and Belbasis.
The Reserves were able to inflict Mernda's first loss for the season to record a 13 point win after leading by about four to five goals for the whole game. Fleming and Millane kicked 3 goals each and Colaci and Giacobbe kicking 2 each. Good players were Deagostino, Mazza, Ristic, Vitiritti and Johnson. We are all wondering what has Hudda got to do to get a Senior game at this club???!!!!
The Under 19's went down to Mernda by 3 points. After kicking the first 2 goals the 19's seemed to be in control only to allow Mernda to pile on the next 8 goals and went in at half time trailling by 44 points. After half time it was a more disciplined and harder team which outscored Mernda by 12.7 to 5.8 to just go down. Unfortunately another chance for the Under 19's to cement themselves higher on the ladder has gone missing. Whittingslow and Jacob Osei-Duro kicked 3 goals while Conlan and Higgins contributed 2 goals each.Good players were Higgins, Jacob Osei-Duro, Pendlebury, Rossano, Daniel Raykovski and Zakkour.
Last Modified on 25/05/2008 11:18