Saturday 15 June 2019
Bendigo v Caulfield
It was a beautiful sunny winter day last Saturday and Bendigo hosted Caulfield at Maiden Gully. The ground was in very good ground condition considering the rain storms during the week. The Warhawks were missing a couple of key players, including midfield utilities, Mason Matheson, forward John Webb and the two youngsters: Matt Saxon and Christian Iuliano. Caulfield had 9 players when the match commenced at 2.45pm. Their final and last player arrived 5 minutes into the first quarter.
Due to Caulfield having to play a man down at the start of the match, Bendigo were confused after a few plays why Caulfield weren’t penalized for off-side. The head ref, Gordan Elder, explained the rule to all. Bendigo took a few minutes to compose themselves, which allowed Caulfield to field their tenth player without any damage to the score line. Once Bendigo player’s head space were cleared, they slotted the first two goals, both by Tim Davis. They were gorgeous long shots to the left of the Caulfield goalie. This great start was tempered by the injury to Wookie. Mark has indicated that he hyper extended his leg when a skirmish occurred in the forward line. He didn’t return to the field until the second quarter.
This didn’t affect the Bendigo’s attackers, placing another two goals onto the score board. Ian Lock happily claimed both. Caulfield did score until mid-way through the quarter by their good moment of the ball. Bendigo went into the break with a 3 goal lead, 4 to 1.
The second quarter is nothing to write home about, especially from undisciplined acts by Gino Iuliano, incurring a penalty due to his big mouth!!!! This rattled the rest of the team which Caulfield capitalised scoring 3 goals to 1 in that quarter. Alex scored his first goal from the match. In the meantime, spiritual leader Wookie, Mark Reader, returned to the field in his limited playing capacity but the team valued his great leadership and an extra body on the field. At the main break Bendigo was leading 5 goals to 4.
After the main break, heads were cooled, and everyone played their part to keep Caulfield goalless while Bendigo bagged 4 goals in the third. Alex had his 2 goals with Mick Bell and Ian Lock picking up one each.
Hard centre work was experienced by both Brett and Rusty, but many of the face-offs were won by Bendigo with great clearances from Tim Davis, Alex Orr and Dylan Le Clerq from the midfielders. The scoresheet read Bendigo 9 and Caulfield 4 at the last break.
Bendigo scored the first goal in the final quarter and extended the lead by six goals. Then scored again a few minutes later. Tim and Alex were the scorers. Tim was in great form and was given an opportunity to take some centres. However, Caulfield clawed a goal back due to slick ball movement. Caulfield grab another goal, but it was cancelled by the final goal by Ian Lock. Bendigo had a very good win closing the game out 12 goals to 6.
Votes were awarded to Tim Davis, with three association and three club votes for a massive day at both ends of the ground and a haul of three goals. Great Effort! Mike Bell was given two votes (club and association) for a busy day in defence and his lone goal, while Alex Orr was awarded a single club vote for his usual prowess and energy. You could easily have argued giving votes to couple of others. However, on the flip side there were penalties awarded to Gino, Ian and Mike.
Thanks again to Tracey O’Meara, who was under the weather but rugged up to score for us and Lester Young for reffing. Thanks to all players who setup the ground while Gino and Ian were coming back from the U11 Carnival held at Eltham.
Gino Iuliano, Grumpy Big Mouth Goalie
Sunday 16 June 2019
MCC v Brunswick
The MCCs women’s team played Brunswick at Brunswick on Sunday afternoon. MCC had 9 players, containing Abbey, Abigail and Ruby, while Brunswick had 17 players. The team was without 2 regulars, Gully Nicholls and Leah Cunningham.
The newly formed Brunswick team had plenty of determination but they were still no match for MCC. The first quarter had MCC leading 7 goals to 1 with Abigail scoring a solo goal. The second quarter was no different, accept that Brunswick scored two goals to MCC’s seven. At the main break MCC was leading 14 to 3.
In third quarter, opportunities were given to the inexperienced ladies, which they relished. Abbey was given the centre face-offs which she forced herself to be more physical and won most of them. MCC scored another 6 goals to Brunswick’s 2 in the third. Abigail shoot another goal but also had two assists, while Abbey scored her first goal of the season and had a fantastic assist for Rosie 6th goal.
The final quarter was a scoreless draw, but the focus of MCC’s coach during that quarter was to improve the young player’s confidence in front of goal. Ruby had three shoots but was unlucky in her attempts.
MCC clearing won the match 20 to 5, with 9 players against an inexperienced Brunswick team with 17 players. Abigail had 2 goals and 2 assists, while Abbey had a goal and an assist for the match.
Gino Iuliano, Scorer
Last Modified on 18/06/2019 15:34