A beautiful sunny Autumn day greeted Warhawks as they arrived after a long wait for their first game of the season. The ground was in great condition and the Bendigo team arrived in good numbers: 14 to start. Two junior players were welcomed into the side, with Matt Saxon and Christian Iuliano pulling on the boots for the first time with the big boys and adding considerable running to the midfield line. Welcome to the seniors, lads!
Altona arrived with 11 players, including Ty Griffon, who is helping out back at Altona these days.
The game began with Bendigo looking threatening from the start, though perhaps a little rushed, particularly in transition from defence, with the forward line not able to settle and many shots were long and not backed up adequately early on. However, the chaotic approach paid some dividends and two goals came from Alex Orr from drives from the top of goal and Bendigo went to the first break up by one and the score on 2 to 1.
The second term saw Altona settle into their attack and they were able to deprive Bendigo of the ball for much longer and managed to score four times. The Warhawks had plenty of shots, but only beat the Altona goalie twice, with Tim Davis characteristically beating a couple of defenders to slot one, while Ian Lock characteristically shot from a painfully low angle and surprised the goalie by sliding a ball into a gap that really wasn’t there. At half time, the score sat at Altona 5 to Bendigo 4.
The third quarter saw the Warhawks make better use of the freedom given to one of their forwards by an Altona defender who was reluctant to follow his man. This made for better transition from the Bendigo backline to the forward line; however, the Warhawks remained rushed in attack and goals came again from individual efforts rather than team goals, with Alex Orr putting in another goal and Mason Matheson taking a good hard long shot that beat the goalie. Altona maintained a steady scoring rate with 3 for the quarter and the score was in favour of Altona 8 to 6 at the last break.
In the final term, Bendigo was held scoreless despite many attacking moves and a favourable sun. Altona’s scoring rate slowed as tiredness began to tell, but they managed two more and the final tally was Altona 10 to Bendigo 6.
Votes were reflective of just how great it is to have youth in the team, with Christian Iuliano being awarded 3 club votes and 2 Association votes for his courageous efforts all over the ground. Tim Davis attracted the eye of the refs with 2 club votes and Matt Saxon also earned himself a single club vote; rounding out a great day for the young fellows.
Thanks to Tracey O’Meara for scoring for us, and Lester Young for donning the zebra skin ref’s top for another game.
Next week we play Malvern at Malvern, with an early start (1pm). Let’s get everyone there and try to make it difficult for them. See you at training …
John Webb, Senior Player.
Women team beat Eltham 15 to 3 with 10 players. Ruby and Abbey were representing Bendigo.
Last Modified on 06/05/2019 16:18