Round 17 Report
A's & B's vs Salisbury North and C's vs Payneham
On the weekend, the A/B's were at Salisbury North, and the C's at Payneham - all three sides had resounding victories.
The C's consolidated second spot, beating Payneham Norwood Union, at Payneham, 16.8 to 6.9. Tom O'Leary was best on ground, Trent Versace was again very high in the best player's list, whilst Jake Bowler and Dylan McPeake were impressive. Harrison Twiggs continues to improve, and Kristian Burchett was as again very lively. Steve "Stevie J" Marotti (3 goals) and Mick Aloisi were other major contributors. Congratulations to Michael Boffa on playing his 50th game for the club.
Special mention also to club umpire Phil Shaw, who has once again officiated in the C grade matches with a minimum of fuss. Steve "Super-coach" Edwards and his senior players have been able to juggle a long list of players during the year, and the team will now have been involved in every finals campaign since 2010.
The B's travelled to Salisbury North and were run away winners 23.18 to 2.2. Adam "Scale" Richter booted 5 goals, Jack Tagg 4, Liam Holland and Sam Tagg 3 each. Nathan Hornhardt, fresh from a spell, was best on ground. Richter was dangerous up forward, whilst Tom O'Malley and the Tagg brothers were all solid performers. It will be interesting times for "Polky" at the selection table in coming weeks, as more players become available. Congratulations to Sam Du Bois on reaching his 100 game milestone. Sam has been a fantastic stalwart of the ROCS footy club, having had to carry our rucks at different times of his career. Let's hope "Doobs" body can keep going for many more seasons.
The B and C's will play Goodwood Saints in the last minor round fixture this Saturday, and then will meet them again in the Qualifying Finals the following week - on a venue to be decided.
The A's made a few changes for the Salisbury North away game. Final scores : ROCS 18.6 to S/Nth 6.3. The team got away to a good start, leading 6.0 to 0.1 at quarter time. At the main break the score was 10 goals straight to 2.1. Willo "Skip" O'Malley worked tirelessly for 4 quarters. Tullio DeMatteis was damaging, and Heath Commane was our most productive forward with 7 goals. Craig Holm continues to find a lot of the ball, and Chris Pahl was excellent in his return to the A grade after a 12 month break. Special mention to Zac Noonan who impressed in his A grade debut.
Having finished Div 1 minor premiers for the first time in the clubs' history, Adrian Rocco's team travel to Goodwood this Saturday, for their last away game for 2017. The A's miss the first week of finals, and then host the second-semi final, and Preliminary final if required).
We hope to see you at the triple-header this Saturday.
Rino Cialini
