Coaches Report - R5
A's by 6 goals, B's down by 11 points against Broadies away and C's strong 7 goal win against Uni
Coaches Reports - R5
A Grade Report -R5
Round 5 vs Broadview @ Broadview 12/5/2012
This was our most consistent game and genuine four quarter effort for the year. For all but a 10 to 15 minute period in the second quarter, we controlled the game without completely dominating on the scoreboard. Another pleasing thing to see was guys taking their opportunity in front of goal, something the opposition didn’t do which may have kept them in the game if they had.
The tone for the day was set with the first clearance to Jack Nelligan lacing our Drew for the first goal within a minute and Braodview appeared on the back foot from that point on. It was good to see the majority of guys through the midfield get plenty of the footy and also great to see veteran Matthew Bazzica get some quality early touches in his first A grade game for a long time.
The second quarter was quite free flowing and Drew was looking very dangerous at every forward entry we could get into him quickly, and most importantly was finishing off his work on the scoreboard. The period in this quarter when Broadview did get some ascendancy, was when we either fumbled the ball at ground level or didn’t stick tackles. This is something that we identified as being poor last week but was much better this week other than in this period.
There was a slight sense of frustration having controlled the first half but only going into half time 13 points up. The test was always going to be the first 5 or 10 minutes of the second half to see if Broadview would rise to the challenge or we kick away. To our credit and primarily put down to working harder than the opposition, we set ourselves up for a comprehensive win in the third quarter. This was capped off by a sleek play where we took the ball in a flash from one end of the ground to the other to result in a goal.
The last quarter was chararterised by some good in close tough plays but let down by some carelessness and perhaps lairising close to goal. The game probably always going to be beyond Broadviews reach in the last quarter but it was impressive to see our players put their head over the ball and continue the things that got us into a winning position right to the final siren.
Best players were Drew Litster who chimed in with 10 goals for the day. Will O’Malley had a huge influence through the midfield and gave us some real toughness and pressure through there. Craig Holm continued his quality and a superb goal on the run and Matthew Bazzica was consistent across half back all day. Anthony Medhurst and Mick Aloisi had their most dominant day in the ruck for us for the year.
Commiserations to the B’s who looked the good for most of the day but failed to fire late when it mattered. Well done to the C grade on a comprehensive win.
Best Players: Drew Litster, Will O’Malley, Craig Holm, Matthew Bazzica, Anthony Medhurst, Michael Aloisi
Goal Kickers: Drew Litster 10, Luke Manuel, Craig Holm, John Trenorden 1, Simon Fitzgerald 1, Sam Bridge 1
Matthew Dawes
A Grade Coach
SAAFL Under 23 State Team
The SA Amateur Football League will be travelling to Tasmania on the June long weekend to compete in the AAFC tri-annual championships.
Congratulations to the following ROCFC players that have been selected to attend training;
Craig Holm
Jack Nelligan
William O’Malley
Kieran Holland
Sponsor Day Reminder R6 May 19th 2012
B Grade Report - R5
The B grade were very competitive for 3 quarters, before being over run in the final quarter, surrendering a 4 point 3 quarter time lead to lose by 11 points. The final quarter was disappointing in terms of work rate as Broadview ran hard and we failed to match them. Having kept Broadview to 5 goals for 3 quarters and then allowing them to kick 5 in the final term, gives an indication of our lack of competitiveness in the final term. In the final term we made too many basic skill errors, handballing under pressure, not kicking long into the forward line and letting the ball go behind us when we were attacking the ball. We must also lift with voice and instruction to work more cohesively as a team.
Our inaccuracy in front of goal early in the game, for the second week in a row was also another major factor why this game slipped away from us. In the first term we kicked 1 goal 5 behinds and at least 2 out of bounds on the full. At the end of the game we had 4 more scoring shots and still lost. Its a frustrating trend that we need to fix up sooner rather than later. The lack of pressure from our forwards did our midfielders and backline no favours as the ball was transferred from our forward line to our backline quickly on a number of occasions.
The positive to take out of the game, after the aftermath, is that the deficiencies in our game, work rate and goal kicking, is totally something we can work on. Its in our control and the players representing ROCS B-grade need to be aware of the expectations and take responsibility for their efforts and actions.
Trent Versace deserves a special mention for his best game of the season and lifted in the second half being a good target across half forward. Sam Tagg, Hamish Kernahan, Daniel Marotti and Liam Cook were good in patches for their first game for the Rocs b grade. Russell Brooks definitely needed a run after being out of the game for 6 months with a shoulder reconstruction and hopefully will improve next outing.
Jordan Lyons was 5th best and was probably our best in the first half. He has a great pair of hands and takes very good marks and had plenty of it early on. He is still a little under done with fitness and fell away a bit in the second half. Josh Robinson was 4th best and valuable efforts on the ball. He uses the ball well and shows poise under pressure. Patrick Holland was 3rd best with an outstanding job at full back on a bigger opponent. He never gives up on a contest and is very reliable manning up and his skill level and decision making is improving. Tom Taylor was very good in the centre again this week. His quick hands to release the ball to a team mate in a better position is excellent and he works hard, all day. Best on ground was our captain Charlie O'Malley. When his best mate, Dan Gilbert was king hit at the end of the second quarter and taken to hospital, Charlie responded and did everything he could to win the game for his mate. His third quarter saw him dominate around the ground taking a dozen marks as the ruck man playing the kick behind the play and his second efforts all day saw him win plenty of the ball and give it to effectively to a team mate.
After 2 close losses, we need to be positive on the track this week, work hard to improve in the areas listed above and prepare for a hard contest against a well performing St Peters OC side this week.
Glen Malkin
B Grade Coach
C Grade Report - R5
The Rocs C1 squads challenge this round was an early game vs an old foe in Adelaide Uni, a team that over the last few seasons have created a bitter rivalry that both squads seem to rate as a "must win" game with the points being shared each season since 2008 at least. Something seems to happen to the Rocs boys playing at Park 10 in the city’s parklands as we always seem to struggle finishing off our hard work and miss very easy shots on goal, as we went about our business this week nothing has changed in this area.
The match started with the Rocs working overtime on our relentless pressure and back up work that had many forward attacking moves easily turned over by the Rocs inexplicable kicking to a target or kicking to position. Fair dinkum our boys invented new ways to hand the ball to the opposition with mostly laughable foot skills once the ball was near the half forward zone. The Uni boys didn’t have to try very hard as they were defending, the Rocs kicked straight to them or nowhere near a teammate gifting Uni easy possessions and frustrating the Rocs hardworking onballers and impassable half back line. Very pleasing as the qtr unfolded was the Rocs hunger to work as a team, keeping pressure on the opposition, backing up and providing options to the ball carrier these are key areas we have been working on during the season and came to fruition on Saturday morning.
Led by our inform on ball brigade, backed up by our dominating defense led by young guns Shannon (little Ghengis) Castellano and Sam (Willo) Wilson the Rocs were relentless in setting up forward entries totally dominating all but the scoreboard. 1/4 time scores Rocs 2-3 vs Uni 1-1 as the second qtr started the Rocs onballers were totally dominant again banding together to work the ball forward with Big Mac Mckenzie continuing his fine early season ruckwork to give his teammates first use of the ball at the stoppages.
Great to have the 'barometer' Vic Pisaniello available for his first game of the season, allthough slightly rusty Pissa was in all the hard contested plays and had a huge influence in helping ball magnet Bunji O'Connor go about his work. As expected Adel. Uni lifted their intensity up a notch to put some scoreboard pressure on the Rocs and in no-time had slotted through some quick goals working on their forward game plan. The Rocs boys stayed in the contest during this testing time and continued to dominate general play but again failed to use this advantage by wasting scoring chances, going into the ½ time break with only a 10pt lead after all our hard work. Scores Rocs 5-5 vs Uni 4-1.
During the long break it was great to feel a genuine buzz amongst the Rocs boys as they all wanted to carry on from their earlier efforts and break the game open and in our favor. Once again dominating the centre clearances, holding sway in defense, working hard on the wings to constantly pepper our forward line with opportunities. Unfortunately the Rocs forwards kept wasting the chances handed to them and had managed to kick 5pts and a couple out on the full. With time running out, luckily against the trend of play we managed to kick truly and went to 3/4 time leading by 20pts. Scores Rocs 6-11 vs Uni 4-3.
There was no need for the coach to rev his charges up during the final break as every player was champing at the bit and wanted to continue the onfield workrate and team effort that they had set up during the game. The Rocs squad swarmed around every contest and kept the ball heading our way during the last term. With first year players Maxi Martin and Jack McCarron given the chance @ full forward and half forward respectively both players did the job needed by our side giving their teammates a clear avenue to goal with both boys bagging 2 goals each as the Rocs Machine slipped into overdrive and finished the game off well slamming 6-1 to Uni's 2-1.
Final scores Rocs 12-12 def Adel Uni 6-4. As we all linked arms to sing our club song the foundations of park 10's famous little grandstand were shaking under the stress of a proud group of young men sharing a moment together very happy with each others efforts.
Now that the squad has finally played as a complete team unit they must use this level of commitment as our standard and work on improving our style of play during the rest of the season. This will not be an easy task as we come up against an undefeated top of the table SPOC side @ the home of football this week in a Triple Header Sponsors day bonanza for our club.
Goalkickers- Paul Arnfield 3, Paulo Emanuele 2, Jack McCarron 2, Maxi Martin 2, Nick Bartold 1, Jess Abfalter 1, Vic Pisanello 1
Bestplayers- Andrew O'Conner, Sam Wilson, Paul Bannister, Alex McKenzie, Vic Pisanello
Best team man M.McPeake (debutant)
Players unlucky to miss out but deserve mentions- Rob Emanuele, L.Polkinghorne, S.Moten, N.Bartold, S.Emanuele& S. Castalano
Steve Edwards
C Grade Coach
