Last Saturday the Warhawks opened their 2017 season with a trip to the elegant Malvern Town Hall ground to take on Malvern. As usual there was trepidation about the cricket pitch area of that ground (also referred to as “our worst nightmare” by the guy doing the line-marking), which usually varies from black, rock hard, dry clay to black, sticky, hip-dislocating filth. However, recent rain had left it in as good order for lacrosse as I’ve ever seen it and with clouds disappearing after morning dirty weather, we kitted up in beautiful sunshine.
The Bendigo team took to the field with 15 players, while Malvern had 16 to start; enjoying a bye in Division 1. The Warhawks have retained most of our players from last season, and we are pleased to welcome Angus Angiolella to our club, bringing with him loads of experience, enthusiasm and new ideas. Young Jarrod Topp-Lowe also returning from a year away from the team.
The first quarter began with both sides getting plenty of the ball. The Warhawks looked a little rushed to start; keen to get an early goal, and we saw plenty of player movement and a few shots too. Bendigo were first to score, with a shot from Alex Orr hitting the goalie and bouncing out in front of goal, where the ball was pounced on by John Webb, and put into the goal, causing the goalie to swear and his shoulders to slump. Excellent start.
The Malvern team then settled into attack and through some great stick work and movement, were able to score 4 goals before quarter time. Bendigo still had plenty of the ball, but stick skills let them down in attack and ground ball and errors with clearing were capitalised on by a very tight Malvern midfield. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 4-1 Malvern’s way.
Malvern were able to dominate possession for the next quarter, but admirable Warhawk defence, and some remarkable saves by Gino Iuliano in goals, saw them kept to only one goal for the quarter. At the other end, Bendigo began to find the net, with goals to Alex Orr, on a characteristic sweeping run to goal, and a nice hard-fought dodging effort close to goal by Angus Angiolella that made it past the goalie, giving Bendigo a winning quarter and the score at 5-3 at half time.
After half time, Malvern found a gear and Bendigo started to show signs of tiredness and with a Bendigo player having to leave, Malvern were now able to keep possession and regain any loss of it fairly easily. They poured on nine goals for the half with well-practised forward work, while the scoring dried up for the Warhawks in attack. Luck also seemed to desert them with shots simply refusing to go in, and Malvern seeming to get a stick to every pass thrown. However, some things weren’t simply bad luck, like not chasing shots behind the goal to keep possession and players not moving to get a pass.
But on the plus side, Malvern didn’t score nearly as often as they would have liked, thanks to the staunch efforts of the defence of Iuliano, Reader, Griffin and Topp-Lowe and the run of the middies, and after the game I actually heard a Malvern player say that they were not overly satisfied with the final result of 14-3.
Votes went to Angus Angiolella (3 club and 1 Association), a welcome addition to our centre string and forward line, who showed huge endeavour all over the ground, that was often rewarded with stopped shots, frustrating dropped passes and bad luck. It was clear to me that the rest of us need to learn how to work off him and listen to and do what he says. Training, training and training. Two club votes went to Gino for another stellar effort in goals and Mark Reader was given a club vote for his leadership and hard yakka in defence.
All in all, not too bad a start to the season and with a bye this week, we get a chance to work on overcoming our challenges (find a wall, go for a run and get to training) and give Eltham something to think about on the 6th of May.
John Webb, Senior Player
Last Modified on 24/04/2017 14:49