Seniors
The game at Waverley Park was a chance for the players to reward one of the veterans of the team Tom Moloney celebrate his 200th club game with a win over one of the clubs rivals and also rectify the loss we had against them earlier in the season when we had control of the game for long periods, but somehow conspired to lose the game in sloppy conditions.
In a game where both sides really had little to play for outside of pride and bragging rights given that finals was probably unrealistic for us, and relegation for the visitors improbable spectators were rewarded with getting to see a good game of footy. There were some terrific individual efforts by players on both sides, hard running and the ball was transferred up and down the ground with good pace. In addition, there were some great individual battles across the ground and at times the contest may have become a little willing, but overall it was a good game of footy.
Inaccuracy is either a symptom of pressure from the opposition, or it is a combination of selfishness by individuals or plain old skill errors and it looked for quite a while that inaccurate kicking by the De La forwards may come to haunt them in the game against old foe St. Bernard's.
On a day when there was no discernible breeze it was amazing to find that the majority of the goals were scored at the cricket nets end of the ground. It may be a psychological thing amongst all players that it is easier to kick goals down hill, but that is merely a self-fulfilling prophecy, and one that players should look to ignore.
The opening quarter saw De La pepper the goals with plenty of energy, but not too much science as they started with 6 straight behinds prior to Matt Hine finally notching an opening goal after nearly 18 minutes of play. This was quickly added to by Charlie Haley soccering one off the ground and then John Grifiths kicking a further goal late in the quarter to have the home side up by 23 points at the break.
The 2nd quarter saw the visitors (with what is likely to be vying for the largest coaching bench in football) apply enormous pressure all over the ground forcing De La into errors, turning the ball over and making elementary mistakes and thus squandering the hard fought lead on the half time break. Credit must be given to the visitors who in Merrington had a tall marking target, and despite being well beaten by Tom Humphrey in most marking contests and then on the ground was being well supported by the crumbing forwards and medium sized marking players.
The 2nd quarter saw Clarke, Kazuno, Madden, Gleeson and George all kick goals as the Bernies wrested the lead from De La and it was only through the efforts of Semmel, Lowe and the relentless Kovess on-ball and Jake Williams rebounding off half back along with the effective spoiling of Baxter and Tom Humphrey that we were not further behind at the long break.
A damning statistic to reflect upon at the break was the wasteful nature of our kicking with their being 21 ineffective kicks in the quarter, which only served to highlight our poor play.
The 3rd saw De La seek to play a more expansive game and with Clinch put in the back pocket to give us some run and carry we looked a little more balanced up front as it freed up space for our smaller forwards Haley, Nick Roberts and Grifiths, but it allowed us to look at exploiting the less nimble and fleet of foot Bernies forwards.
The game was still tight though and despite having more of the play goals were at a premium and after Pickett opened the scoring, Gleeson responded for the visitors and the game was still in the balance. Quick goals to Lowe and Vickers helped to open a handy gap, but it was only when Jake Williams sent forward late in the quarter kicked a goal at the 28 minute mark that the lead was out to 20 points.
The last was probably always going to be intriguing as De La needed to goal quickly to put doubts into the Bernies. When Gleeson kicked the opening goal of the last the lead was down to 14 points and the game was tightening up.
However home team nerves were settled when Charlie Haley kicked his 2nd and then Pickett kicked his 3rd and the game was starting to look safe the home side, but then George kicked his 2nd at the 12 minute mark and it was still up in the air.
The game was probably iced when Hine kicked his 2nd at the 19 minute mark, and the lead was out to 27 points and it was always going to be difficult for the visitors. There were still some highlights to be added however and one was the terrific run from clinch from deep in the defensive zone where he took off on a mazy run with 3 bounces while burning off flagging opponents, and then to cap off a good day debutant Jack Jarvis kicked the final goal of the day to restore the comfortable cushion we had established.
Better players for the day were, Semmel, Lowe, Tom Humphrey, Jake Williams, Jack Vickers and Justin Baxter along with Sam Brooks and Sam Haslem who both played very well under some duress, so credit to them.
A good day and a good result, but our very remote possibility of participation finals is now over as Scotch also won. We congratulate all teams on making finals this year as we look to finish off in style against Old Carey next week. They should not be underestimated, as they have been a side we have struggled to match up against over the last 3 years and they will look to finish off their season well as they look to rebuild in Premier B after what has been a disappointing campaign for them this year.
De La Salle 12.15..87
St Bernard’s 10.6.66
Goal Kickers: S. Pickett 3, C. Haley 2, M. Hine 2, D. Lowe , J. Vickers , J. Williams , J. Jarvis , J. Griffiths
Best Players: J. Williams, J. Vickers, E. Clinch, D. Lowe, T. Kovess, T. Moloney
Reserves
In a tough encounter we allowed the opposition to stay in the game with poor conversion, which included a dismal 2.9 in the second quarter. The visitors challenged briefly in the third quarter but we regained our composure to grind out a solid win. Salvatore, Roberts and Grant the best.
De La Salle 11.17.83
St Bernards 5.8.38
Goal Kickers: N. Fyfield 2, H. Nicholson 2, D. Close 2, M. Stizza , K. Grant , H. Haley , B. Nethersole , A. Roberts
Best Players: O. Salvatore, A. Roberts, K. Grant, H. Haley, D. Close, H. Nicholson
Thirds
Another demonstration of what this team is capable of with a full side. A very solid four quarter effort as we look to finish the season on a high. Dan Millwood named Bas best. Kneebone 6 and Morwood 5 led the scorers.
De La Salle 19.11.125
Old Scotch 5.8.38
Goal Kickers: A. Kneebone 6, S. Morwood 5, D. Hyde 2, D. Millwood 2, J. O'Connor , R. Hancock , J. Terrell , T. Krezel
Best Players: D. Millwood, J. O''Connor, S. Morwood, A. Kneebone, D. Griffin, C. Hyde
19 Blues
A positive end to the season with a hard fought 5 point win over Old Scotch. Liam Wood, James Howard (5 goals) and Matt Harvey named as best. Almost the entire group can go around again in 2014 so we look towards next season with great optimism.
De La Salle 10.14.74
Old Scotch 10.9.69
Goal Kickers: J. Howard 5, K. Wallis 2, P. Hatch , J. Cox , A. Wheatley
Best Players: L. Wood, J. Howard, M. Harvey, L. Gogis, J. Gava, S. Harrington
19 Golds
De La Salle 11.10.71
Hampton Rovers 11.15.81
With the season effectively over after last weeks loss this was a disappointing end to an otherwise good year for this very young group. O’Sullivan, Hay and Craig the best with Damon Grant kicking 4 goals to lead the scorers.
Goal Kickers: D. Grant 4, J. Hanley 2, H. Zaia , J. Wheeler , H. Curtis , J. O'Sullivan , A. Munday
Best Players: J. O'Sullivan, A. Hay, D. Craig, J. Pirovano, D. Grant, H. Zaia
Last Modified on 25/08/2013 14:34