Seniors agonisingly close……again!
Coach Rowan must be rapidly losing his hair or indeed turning greyer by the week with yet another agonisingly close result at the weekend – losing to Shepparton Bears by a mere 3 points!
Captain Marcus Varley led the way all day with a superb effort through the mid-field with some exceptional work, yet again, being done by the high class younger players in Jett Trotter and Lachlan Hill in particular. Jett’s ability to cut through heavy traffic has been admired by many for a number of years now yet this has gone to another level with his pin-point accuracy with his left-foot something forwards like Adam Giobbi (3 goals) are licking their lips about. The ‘football-instinct’ possessed by Lachlan Hill is also many seasoned supporters are remarking upon – this ability has meant Lachlan gets himself to the contest time and time again and is able to win more than his fair share of the ball.
The loss of JD Hayes mid-week last week to an altercation with a horse – JD coming off second best - compounded the challenges this team have faced in recent times (losing a number of other key players in the last month). Despite this though the playing group rallied beautifully to really have a crack at the reining premiers. Jayden Gleeson played another fine game through the mid-field as did the likes of a returning Robert Paradzayi. Matthew Ivill, Ben Harrison and Tom Garside again thwarted many opposition attacking moves with some excellent run out of the backline from Bryce Frost creating opportunities up forward.
The final siren though sounded a little early for the home side as they were unable to get over the line. Back to the training track it is then this week as they prepare to do battle in the ‘Rob Robinson’ cup against Benalla in Benalla. This will be followed by the club’s annual formal ball (The Neds Mid-Year Ball) for what will hopefully be a round of celebrations for many across the club’s teams.
EUROA RESERVES COME AWAY WITH A GOOD WIN AGAINST THE SHEPPARTON BEARS
The contest against the Shepp Bears reserves team is always a competitive one and this again was the case for our Euroa reserves team. From the team listed on Thursday night to when the players assembled on the Saturday morning the coach and team manager had a very busy morning with a number of changes to the side occurring. With James Chittick receiving the call up to the first eighteen to replace the injured J D Hayes and John Lkupu unavailable along with other seconds players it was a challenge for Linc and Roger to get the required numbers.
Through the help from a number of under eighteen players and good clubman Jake Tunks the reserves took to the field with the required number of players. With a shortage of ruckman Michael Watson was given the task of carrying the workload in the ruck for the team.
The first quarter was very even with neither team able to break away and take control of the game and this continued to be the case in the second quarter with the teams appearing to be evenly matched over the ground. From the start of the third quarter you could sense that our reserve team were starting to get on top of the Shepp Bears through the good contest given by Michael Watson in the ruck giving the onballers the opportunity to win the ball and move it into our forward line creating scoring opportunities allowing us to get a break on the Shepp bears team. This continued in the last quarter where we controlled the game outscoring the opposition.
This was a good win by the group who all worked hard at the contest supporting each other.
The team was best served by Michael Watson who contested strongly during the game rucking for a large part of the game. The older brigade were again very good lead by Klay Giovannini and Ash Hobbs both winning the ball all over the ground. Linc McKernan was again good playing in the forward and backline at various times in the game taking strong marks which helped to steady the team and helping in setting up scoring opportunities when playing up forward.
A big plus for the team was the games played by Trav Burls and Isiah Trotter -it was Trav's second game of the year and his touch and ability to stop many entries by the opposition into their forward line was very good. Isiah Trotter play got better as the game went on with him finishing off with a very strong second half of football where he attacked the ball hard and winning the contest. Robbie Wilson as always was a good target up forward for the team we hope his knee injury is not too bad. It was good to see Marcus Heritage winning the ball scoring goals and helping to set up scoring opportunities for the team his run and ability to win the ball is important to the team.
To the thirds players who helped out the reserves team after playing in the under eighteens thanks for helping out. The thirds players gave a strong contest at the ball and much run over the ground. To the other players who pulled on the black & white jumper thanks to you all we appreciate your help in taking to the field for us.
This was a strong win against opposition who always bring a competitive unit to the game. Next week we travel to Benalla who have picked up their game over the last few weeks so we will have to be ready for the contest from the first bounce . Hopefully with players available and some back from injuries we will have more players available to play.
U 18 footy report. 22-6-19
EUROA v Shepparton
Saturday’s game at Memorial Oval between the Euroa Magpies and the Shepparton Bears was always going to be a tough one. The gap between the top six teams and the bottom six teams is significant in the U18 competition, so meeting up with the third placed Bears on what could have been the coldest morning in living history did not look very promising.
Calling yet again upon the footballing enthusiasm of some U16 boys, Coach Redfern was able to field a team once Bede Redfern, Baxter Ramsden, Harold Mawson and Nic Hill were in the mix.
The Bears looked tall at every position on the ground, making a mockery of one Magpie spectator who was heard saying before the game “they actually don’t look that tall… “ Should have gone to Spec Savers- they were giants.
Dan Mawson played another consistent game at full back, the one place on the ground that the football was guaranteed to go. Dan defended tirelessly, ably supported by Mal Anderson, Kodi Dunn and Harold Mawson, on loan for a week from Longwood and coping admirably with the higher standard of football.
Darby Davidson, Declan Redfern and Brandon Ebert are practically veterans of the U18 team, having played many games for the black and white over the past few years. These boys lead by example, encouraging their younger, less experienced team mates and contributing to some positive passages of play.
Birthday Boy Zac Williams celebrated his recent milestone event by playing another steady game for the Magpies, rotating between the back line and on the ball. Zac maintained focus for the duration of the game, and was instrumental in a number of turn overs and pushes back into Euroa’s forward line.
Whilst the final score at the end of the game was completely one-sided, it was not an indication of the mammoth four quarter effort that the undermanned and undersized Magpies put in against one of the best teams in the competition. It would be very easy for Euroa to become disheartened after their past three weeks, but each Saturday the Magpies turn up ready and eager to play, willing to listen to their Coach’s words of wisdom, and quick to celebrate their successes, even though these have been few and far between of late.
Let’s hope the Magpies have a change of fortune next week when they travel up the Hume to take on the Benalla Saints.
Euroa 2.1.13. Shepparton. 18.15.123
Last Modified on 26/06/2019 13:29