The Warhawks convened at the Park St ground at RoyalPark in Brunswick and with earlier signs of bad weather moving on, the sun became a real consideration for team captains at the toss for ends. It was chilly, but great for running around in. The ground was soft and the cricket pitch area a little treacherous, but nothing to whine about.
Bendigo had 13 on the sheet to start, while Melbourne Uni players trickled in slowly to finally amount to 12. We were a little wary of what they might field, with their division 1 team enjoying a bye, but any downward player movement was to regulations.
The first quarter saw both teams struggling to find structure in their respective forward lines. As usual with Uni, they are a younger and faster outfit than Bendigo, but usually don’t match us for size, especially in the backline. The Warhawks were able to keep the Uni forwards wide and out of range, pressure stick work and turn the ball over. However, transition into the Bendigo forward line wasn’t as good as we’ve seen, with older forward players (yeah, me) often finding their defender with a yard or two on them as they l moved for the ball (I played on Don Spirason all day; a guy I used to play with at Uni, who always had a yard on me back then, but now seems to have gained another…..or perhaps I’ve lost one. Hmmm….back to the game).
The Warhawk forwards tended to rush, and we soon found that the Uni goalie was going to be good on long shots. Nothing went past him in the first quarter, and Uni were starved up the other end, giving us a frustrating nil-all score line going into the first break.
The second quarter saw both teams improve their forward play, Uni got two, as did Bendigo, who opened their account through the agency of backman, Ty Griffin, who took advantage of the lighter Uni defence, bullied his way to goal and shot cleanly. Alex Orr also took a good pass and dodged a short-stick defender to make it two-all at half time.
In the third term, there were plenty of opportunities to score, but near misses and sloppy stick work and a shortage of movement off the ball (and some bad luck for Ian Lock, who hit metalwork after robbing the goalie) cursed both sides. Uni were able to put in one more, and Bendigo got a nice goal with good quick passing: John Webb, to Will Kenny to Ian Lock, who shot true.
The teams continued to mirror each other on the scoresheet and with the tally looking like a hockey fixture at three-all, it was going to be close in the final term.
In the last it was Uni, with quite good structure up front, but with a lack of finish, versus Bendigo, who had struggled all day to settle into set play, but could still force goals, mainly through individual efforts. Mark Reader drove on goal, with Uni players bouncing off, and the shot looked stopped, but fortunately rolled into the goal. Alex scored (what turned out to be) the winner with another dodge and shot. And with Uni only able to score the once, Bendigo hung on for what seemed an eternity (especially for someone nursing a buggered knee on the bench) and when the bell finally rang they had won by a goal, 5-4. Not a pretty win, but a win all the same.
Votes went to Tim Davis (3 club votes and 1 Association) who has really blossomed as a speedy defensive middy. Ty Griffin snared 2 club votes, showing endeavour (and the way to goal) and giving the Uni youth something to worry about. Gino Iuliano in goals was awarded one club vote, keeping Uni on short rations for most of the day.
This game was Vince Fitzpatrick’s 50th for the club, and well done! He gives us plenty of run in the midfield and now has to travel a long way to all our games. So, thanks, Vince. Thanks too to Pat Kenny and Trish Griffin for scoring for us.
I should also mention that our centre players, Brett Ruiz and Russ Crofts were outstanding again, winning pretty much all the centre draws and regularly and neatly laying a ball at the feet of our middies as they come in.
So with the next game our last for the year, let’s get to training and freshen up our forward play and see what we can do about Footscray’s winning run.
John Webb, Senior player.
Last Modified on 23/08/2017 09:11