Saturday was a chilly and overcast day and we had a fairly wet Maiden Gully ground to play on.
Bendigo started with 12 players, while MCC had 13 to start, and Gino’s experienced eye noted a couple of extra players added in from the last time we played them.
MCC jumped the Warhawks, putting on three quick goals before Bendigo could score through a strange looking shot off a missed pass that Ian Lock somehow managed to bat past the goalie, who thought the ball was outside the net, but turned out to be inside. Not pretty, but there it was. MCC scored once more for the quarter, to be 4-1 up at the first break. A good head start and as it turned out, a fatal one.
In the second term, the Warhawks looked better everywhere and in the forward line the ball moved very well and there were plenty of shots taken, but many missed or were gathered by a handy MCC goalie (he’s good in the air, but he somehow tempts you to go high on your shot by keeping his stick low. It took a while for me to wake up to it, anyway). In defence the Warhawks reined in the MCC attack and both teams only managed a goal each for the quarter, Alex Orr scoring for the Warhawks from a good set-up. At half time the score stood at 5-2.
After the break the game continued in the same vein, with the play shared fairly evenly between the two teams, though the Bendigo players felt the lack of subs keenly and were visibly more tired, especially when one player was lost to injury late in the game and another forced by circumstances to be only part-time on the field. The middies and centres ran and ran all day and even the usually-sedentary forwards were forced up field occasionally.
In the last half, the scoring was even with 4 each: Alex Orr scoring a second, John Webb finally shooting low and netting one at last, Ian lock slotting another one from an impossibly low angle and Mark Reader sending home a great bouncer from a long run out of defence.
So the score finished on 9-6, and we were left to ponder what might have been if we had a longer team list. Our centres do a great job in face-offs, but when the middies get tired, Brett and Rusty often find themselves fighting an opposition centre plus a middie or two without help. We try to swap in and out of forward and back lines to rest middies, but then we have off-side fouls and difficulty with properly running man-up plays. In the end, lack of player numbers and a three goal jump at the start lost us this game (oh yeah, and wayward shots), but there is still a lot to like about the way the Warhawks never give up.
I should mention that Nick Goddard and Brett Ruiz both got assists, so that we ended up with 6 players involved in the scoring, which is something to take home.
Votes went to Alex Orr (3 club and 2 Association) for another huge effort and ability to take punishment, Mark Reader got 2 club votes fighting it out in defence and Rordan Brayshaw, one club vote for running up and down the ground all day and getting plenty of the ball for us. Well done.
We play Eltham at Eltham next week. Bear in mind that they beat Williamstown 10-6 this week and that in turn, Williamstown beat Bendigo 17-1 the week before, so we clearly have our work cut out. It’s the last game of the season, and we’ll need everyone we can get to make a show of it.
John Webb
Last Modified on 03/08/2015 14:29