Coaches Report R10
Gaza take the points in the A's, while the B's and C's record good wins
Coaches Report - R10
A Grade Report
Round 10 V Gaza at Campbelltown 23/6/2012
It was a case of the ROCS never really getting going this week with Gaza controlling the game after a close first fifteen minutes. At the start we had plenty of the ball and forward entries but let ourselves down with poor delivery into the forward 50. On the flip side Gaza moved the ball with clean skills and were able to hit targets through the middle of the ground. By half way through the quarter Gaza appeared to get on top around stoppages and the backline were under some serious pressure. Craig Holm was working hard through the midfield and Damien Moyle gave us some drive along the outer wing. Mick Aloisi also took some very strong marks reading the ball well a kick behind the play.
After being a few goals down at quarter time the players hit in a bit harder at the contest and put up a good fight in the second quarter however no side was able to put any significant score on the board. The frustration of this was probably a contributing factor to the scuffle at half time. We appeared cramped for space on many occasions and didn’t attack through the corridor which made it hard for the forwards to get any ascendancy. When we did find some rare space the delivery by foot was our poorest for the year.
At half time the theme was to be increase our work rate as we looked flat and not showing any of the confidence we’ve had so far this year. In the third quarter the tight tussle continued however every time Gaza went forward they looked more damaging. We on the other hand continued to fumble the ball at ground level and were not strong enough over the footy being pushed aside to easily by a club that seemed hungrier and cleaner with the football. We were also struggling with injury having lost Charlie O’Malley with a knock to the hip, John Trenorden with a shoulder and Paul Norris in his first A grade game in 3 years with a broken collar bone.
The last quarter seemed to go from bad to worse on both the scoreboard and with injury. Gaza got off to a quick start kicking early goals and we never looked like generating the run to score quickly. Had it not been for the heavy conditions and wasted opportunity by Gaza forwards the margin could have been worse. Damien Polkinghorne went down with cartilage damage to his knee and Paul Norris came back on for the last fifteen minutes despite his then undiagnosed broken collar bone and even took an overhead mark up forward!
A big congratulations to Bazz on his 200th game and disappointing not to get the points for him.
Better players were Mick Aloisi with a good start to the game and a big effort to ruck the second half after Charlie O’Malley went down. Craig Holm, Matthew Dawes, Will O’Malley and Jack Nelligan tried hard all day in the middle even though they were probably beaten over the course of the day, and Tom Bowler was clean and silky when he came on.
The B grade had another hard fought win and again finished full of running. Well done in particular to Andy O’Connor and Shannon Castellano who have made a good transition from C’s to B’s recently. Well done to the C grade on another big win and are on a roll. It would be great to see more of them at training and back at the club to tell the rest of us how good they are!!!
Matthew Dawes
A Grade Coach
