Seniors - With a late withdrawal from our starting 21 - the door was opened for Dennis Pedemont to take his place at senior level. Considering he had performed well in the earlier game - he certainly proved to be a good selection.
The boys jumped out early with "Hi-Five" (N O'Connell) on fire with 3 early big ones. Terrific team football saw the team out to 8.2 to 2.3 for the first term.
Not to be outdone Cobram tightened up and pressured Toc to a point where we were genuinely challenged. Another great 1/4 of footy from Anthony Mellington, Dave Farrell and Luke Chapman on our back half - kept the damage to a 3 goal quarter from Cobram.
The third quarter saw as much of the same from our opponents. However with more self discipline we could have been further ahead at the orange break. One hopes we are not getting ahead of ourselves. Great quarter from the leaders of the side in Lucas White, Lee Warnett, Dave Farrell and Anthony Mellington.
The last quarter was just as much a replica of our first. Did "Rooster" get into our blokes? Guess who kept bobbing up - yep - "Hi-Five", Shiels and Loges got on the end of a couple, with great hard footy from Ben Phelan, Josh Roberts and Tim Garlick working together. A great team effort evolved. Good players over the journey would show Anthony Mellington, "Hi-Five", Lee Warnett, Ben Phelan, Lucas White and honourable mentions to our young brigade in Josh Roberts and Tim Garlick.
It would be fair to mention we must keep stickin' our head down and tail up. There are a few clubs around that would love to pounce! What a "tremendous" headache for our selection panel in the forthcoming weeks!!
P.S. Any hope of "Rooster" being seen in a Toc tee-shirt!
Reserves - On Saturday we faced Cobram at Cobram. Cobram were a much bigger side than Toc but we took it up to them in the 1st quarter. Big Pete was an option up forward kicking 2 majors in the 1st quarter but he got injured in the 2nd quarter and never returned to the field.
Some major changes were done at half time to try and win the game but we were beaten by a much bigger side. We fought the game out right until the end. This is an encouraging sign and it is something to work with. With some young players coming into our side and a run under their belts they will only get better. We must all try to get to training and put some pressure on the senior boys.
Under 17's - Our defence started off under pressure from the first minutes of the game. There was some great tackling from the boys in the centre and Robbie taking some great marks in the last line of defence. Zac and Taylor both tried hard with some great tackling and marks taken. It was a slow start for our forward line.
In the 2nd quarter saw some great defensive play from Jake and Keiran. Matt Soule continued to ruck well. The forward line got more opportunities this quarter and tried really hard.
The last two quarters of the game saw some great tackling and defence work. All players tried hard in the windy conditions. The wind was across the ground to start with and then began to swirl around the oval. A big thank you to Will McDonald and Stephen Patten for stepping up again.
Under 14's -There was some good match ups around the ground and it looked like the young bloods were still in it at half time. The forward line saw a lot of the ball but couldn't manage to get it through the big sticks. Our centre and wings played well, but Cobram still had their loose men up forward after following the ball through from the centre. The back line played a great defensive game, sticking together and manning up well. There seemed to be a lot more talk down there this week. Overall a great game guys and Josie, a lot of good movements and skills displayed. Our short passing game picked up and we held some good strong marks. We just need to keep an eye on the opposition running through the centre to the forward line. But stick at it, we'll get there. Thanks to Cobram who played a well disciplined game, and thanks to the Cobram boys for helping us out for the day, you all showed a lot of talent. The 3 points this week goes to the umpiring - fair and just. We'll see what ship we're sailing next week captain.
Congratulations to our team mates who represented the Murray Football League in last weekend's Interleague match against Central Murray League. These being: Lucas White, Lee Warnett, Anthony Mellington, Luke Chapman, Michael Hare, Jarrod Kelly and Sean Logie (Seniors) and Tim Garlick and Ricky Brasher (U/18). Well done you did the club proud!
