A good home base is the foundation of many successful ventures in life. Be it a military operation, a good family life, a simple baseball diamond or even, as in this case, a sporting team's aspirations, having a good home base will take you a long, long way to reaching your aims. So it has been for Norwood Football Club this year as we have hosted, and beaten, in order, Noble Park(5pts), Knox(1pt), Lilydale(32pts), Croydon (19pts) Blackburn(60pts), Balwyn(27pts), Scoresby(26pts) and East Burwood(35pts). Each of these wins went a little further to cementing our invincibility at home, raising the profile of "The Fortress" in the minds of both our boys and any visitors.. The wins have kept building confidence in the group that we can match it with anyone, a confidence which has spilled over into many good wins away from home as well.
To complete a club record and go through the year unbeaten at home, we had to take care of East Ringwood, a team who beat us back in Rd6, one of only 3 losses so far this year. The ground itself had taken a further hammering with heavy rains on Friday and Saturday morning and was not a pretty sight. At least, not to the visitors anyway, our boys have come to love the place.
Conditions made it, not surprisingly, a slog, but the home side had the better of it early, but we could not impact on the scoreboard. We were kicking downhill to the outer end, but this would not be the favoured scoring end as it had been all season with a strong breeze favouring the Mullum Rd end. A couple of points were all we had to show until Ben Gilling landed a crunching tackle on an East defender and won a free 20m out on a 45degree angle. With a heavy ball and mud underfoot this was no easy kick but Ben nursed it home, so at quarter time we led by 7pts, 1.2 - 0.1 (yet another goalless qtr for the opposition).
The 2nd qtr saw us press home the advantage. 3 tremendous individual efforts from Brenter were key. Twice he broke free and slammed home goals that belied the nearly impossible conditions - one a 40 m bomb from near the boundary line, while his 3rd effort, another storming run saw him land a barrel in the goalsquare which was cleverly toe-poked through by Krousser and we were out to a 20 point lead - a big advantage in these conditions. Our efforts were being led by Ev Johnson and Stuey Hill (who else) who were proving impassable at half-back while "big" John Holmes was in and under everything, ensuring we had first use. A nice conversion to Matt McCormack before half time saw us go in with a comfortable advantage of 26pts: 5.3 - 1.1.
During the halftime break the heavens opened up briefly, making conditions even worse - if that was possible???
It couldn't stop our boys in the 3rd quarter though, as the ball spent long periods in our forward 50, allowing Jake Ford to pounce twice in the space of a couple of minutes for important goals. The lead had gone to 38pts and there was no way back for East Ringwood. They managed 1 goal, but this was more than matched by Krousser's 2nd and another to Ben Gilling as well. At 3/4 time the game was as good as over as we led 9.5 - 2.2.
The last quarter was probably East Ringwoods best as they enjoyed some of their cleanest passages of play into the forward line. They converted twice to add some respectability to their score, but we responded with a 3rd from Krousser and also one from Scotty Day to round out a comprehensive win. The game was over long before the final siren, which would have been welcomed by both sides. Final scores for the last home game of season 2012 were: 11.10.76 - 4.2.26
Many players had good days, but Brenter was the standout yet again. His work rate in the heavy conditions was unbelievable, continually running onto the wings and creating space and time like no-one else while his penetrating left foot was the source of many scoring opportunities - including those two great goals. Ev Johnson showed some good form again, I'm sure he's looking forward to showcasing his skills on a drier surface in September, while Clayts, Jake Ford, Krousser, Holmes, Maaskant, Hill, Gilling and Tom Marriott also had good days, but there were plenty of other contributors as well - apologies to them.
And so it there it is, a record 9th straight win at home, proving once and for all what a 'Fortress' we have created at Mullum Reserve. But while the record is a nice one to have and is something that can be talked about for years, its major importance right now is that it allows us to hold onto top spot with just one game to come, a tough away trip to Lilydale. If we can win that, we will finish top and get the week off, going straight into the 2nd Semi Final. An added bonus is that we have also secured a 'double chance' as we can finish no lower than 3rd even if we lose, but that is not the focus right now. The focus is squarely on beating Lilydale and gaining that top spot...
The other games were nailbiters as the 2nds lost by a solitary point - and now must win next week to ensure a finals appearance, and the U19s won by just 2 pts to hold down 2nd spot.
We now venture away from Mullum Reserve for the rest of the year, first to Lilydale and then neutral ground for our finals campaign. Whatever happens, we can look back with fondess at what the Mullum Reserve 'Fortress' has provided us with this year, the ideal foundation for a tilt at finals glory.
"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home"
Go Wooders
Last Modified on 13/09/2012 11:08