It’s seemed like an eternity since our last encounter against the Templestowe Football Club and this match had been a much talked about since the prelim final last year.
The Under 19’s kicked off the day in style in what was a great game of footy. An arm wrestle for most of the match neither side could kick away and hold a decent lead. Toby Ward and Tom Blanche were terrific down back while Liam Williamson and Josh Doidge were among the best mids for the game. Tigers held off the Dockers to win by 10 points.
Coach James Quilty had this to say after the game ‘’we played good football for a half where we controlled the play and held structure to take an early lead. After halftime out work rate and intensity dropped off and we allowed Templestowe to dictate the play for much of the third quarter. The final term saw some heroic efforts from our leaders who stood up to steady the ship and help us record our second win for the season. Unfortunately some wins come at a cost and we lost Justin Bradford for the season with a serious knee injury. We wish Heels a speedy recovery. From here we tackle Sth Belgrave. A better defensive effort will be needed and the boys will need to work hard to improve our intensity”
Mitcham 7.8.50 def Templestowe 5.10.40.
The Reserves knew they were coming up against a much better opposition than they had in Round 1 and started relatively well. Controlling much of the play in the second quarter the Tigers failed to capitalize with opportunities up forward. The third quarter saw Templestowe kick 3 goals to the Tigers 1 goal and put the pressure on for a big last quarter. Unfortunately the boys couldn’t make the most out of several forward entries and Templestowe snuck home by a goal. Skipper Matt Beagley was named the Tigers best while Trav Murphy, Jackson Glossop, Nathan McKeown and Tyler Arrowsmith were in the Tigers best.
Coach Steve Jordan had this to say "'Unfortunately poor conversion in the 2nd quarter where we had 10 fwd entries to 3 and only scoring one goal was a major factor in why we went down by 6 points. It was a very tight contest with Templestowe playing a full press which made it very difficult for us to get out into space and play our running game. Our skipper Beag’s was terrific leading from the front, his ability to get to each contest and apply 2nd,3rd efforts was outstanding. Tyler Arrowsmith from half back put in another solid performance, Trav Murphy and Bluey were excellent all day providing us great intensity around the stoppages. For our new recruits and first year players up from the 19’s it was a good learning experience as Templestowe were a big body side and closed our run down well. We can take a lot out of this week into the next few rounds. We still have plenty to work on at training however one area that I couldn’t question the group on was their effort, they stuck at it all day.
Templestowe 5.6.46 def Mitcham 4.6.30.
The Seniors started the game well and didn’t look like giving the Dockers much of a chance for the majority of the game. Coach Neil Winterton asked the players to hit the contests with controlled aggression in what was always going to be a fiery game of football. It was the Mitcham boys who hunted the footy leaving Templestowe looking somewhat lost. Higgnson, Witnish, R.Petracca and Winterton controlled the midfield while Steve Pimm played like he was 18 again booting 8 goals. The Tigers held a 5 goal lead at the main break and even though Templestowe made a late charge the boys were way too good and finished off to win by 33 points.
Coach Neil Winterton said after the game "We started the game well and were able to move the ball in quickly to our forwards with pimmy taking full advantage by kicking 4 first quarter goals. Unfortunately we undid our good work with some costly errors and went to the first break with an 11 point advantage. Our 2nd quarter was very good with some crisp ball movement and good defensive pressure allowing us to kick 5 goals and restrict them to only 1 goal. We started the 3rd quarter well but fell away in the back half of the quarter dropping our defensive intensity and allowing them to play the game on their terms. Pleasingly we were able to respond in the last quarter by kicking 5 of the first 6 goals to put the result beyond doubt. Pimmy was fantastic all day with his one on one marking a real highlight. Witta also led well from the front with his attack on the man and the ball. Overall very pleasing to get a win against a quality opponent on their ground, still quite a few areas we need to clean up, hopefully we can do that over the coming weeks. Thanks again to all the supporters who came out to the ground and made it feel like a home game and also to everyone who went back to the coach and horses. Look forward to seeing everyone down at walker park for the Anzac Day clash against Sth Belgrave''
Mitcham 17.9.111 def Templestowe 11.12.78.
Last Modified on 21/04/2015 21:13