R1 Coaches Report
All the coaches report from R1 vs SPOC
Round 1 Match Reports v SPOC - 2/4/22
D Grade Report - R1:
Fantastic football conditions at ROC Park (CMO) heralded season 2022 as the ROCS Academy side welcomed back-to-back Premiers St. Peters OC to kick off a new campaign. With three freshmen (debutants) joining the ROCS family and kicking with the aid of a slight zephyr the ROCS were into attack early & hit the scoreboard accurately to put the Saints on the back foot. ROCS sustained great team play using quick ball movement, run & support for each other & gave the ball first time in each contest, absorbing any pressure from Saints to hold onto our lead at the 1/4-time siren. 1/4-time scores ROCS 4-2 vs St. Peters 2-1.
As expected, Saints came out snarling after the break increasing pressure in the contests and breaking free to launch multiple attacks on goal. ROCS had to dig deep to stop the onslaught & did well enough to stay in the contest at the 1/2-time break. Scores ROCS 6-2 vs St Peters 7-4.
The second half started with a dour struggle for territory and plenty of huge hits as the game became a flexing of muscle and plenty of weight behind each contest as the ROCS tried their best to match the reigning Premiers. With numerous ROCS players now injured in the tough contest the efforts were always matched by Saints as they took control of the second half, although down to 17 players for the final 20mins the ROCS never gave in, a very encouraging sign to start the season. Final score ROCS 10-5 def by St. Peters OC 17-10.
A special mention to Tommy Matsis & Sam Warren who both played an earlier game on the day and then suited up for the Academy team to help with our numbers, thanks boys that’s the ROCS spirit.
Debutants: Harry Davies, Jordan Huppatz & Corey White
Best Players: A. Cream, B. Davies, S. Tagg, F. Shanahan, J. Huppatz.
Goalkickers: A. Cream 4, S. Marotti 2, B. Davies 1, J. Haddad 1, P. Russo -1, S. Tagg -1
Spare a thought for Sam Tagg who had scans for a knee injury received during the 3rd Q, such is his weekly impact on the game Tagga still made the best player list after just over half a game played.
Steve Edwards
D Grade Coach
C Grade Report - R1:
SPOC 13-17-95 def ROCS 9-7-70
Goals: Josh O’Leary 4, Tom Matsis 2, Jayden Smith 1, Luca Piantadosi 1.
Best: Josh O'Leary, Jacob Scutella, Tom Matsis, Riordan McNamara, Justin McInerney
ROCS C grade put in a solid performance against a fitter and classier St Peters. We went in at halftime 9 points down but unfortunately with the loss of Jayden Smith (shoulder) and Henry Warren (hamstring) we were down to one rotation on the bench. SPOC came out in the 3rd qtr. and got on top of us and unfortunately due to fatigue we could not stay with them.
Justin McInerney was stellar in the ruck as he usually is. Riordan ‘Frog’ McNamara held our backline together and put in a solid performance. Tom Matsis on his final game for the club ran all day and kicked 2 goals. Jacob Scutella was excellent in the midfield and never stopped competing. Josh O’Leary was excellent up forward booting 4 goals and made himself a great target. We welcomed our new debutants Eric Luppino and Luca Piantadosi who kicked a goal. Not the start we wanted but looking forward to first home game against Brighton.
Tony Franzon
C Grade Coach
B Grade Report - R1:
Welcome to all ROCs members and supporters to the 2022 season.
Not the best way to start the season but with 5 players debuting and 5 new players to B grade it was always going to be a challenge.
In the first half we were outclassed by a quality and experienced side, but to the credit of the group we outscored them in the third quarter, to take a positive out of the game.
Encouraging signs was from one of debut players in Josh Bradford who showed his class – plus two new players to B grade – Harrison Twiggs and Lewis Matsis who both played well.
We will get better with some extra work on the training track and game time.
Final Scores: ROCs 6-7 SPOC 20-14.
Best Players: Josh Bradford, James McGuiness, Harrison Twiggs, Tom O’Leary
Goal Scorers: McGuinness 4, Cini 1, J Ball 1
Thanks to Ben Moyle who will be assistant coach and runner this year plus Mark Twiggs who will be Team Manager.
See you all at our first game at home this week against Brighton
David Moyle
B Grade Coach
A Grade Report - R1:
The A Grade faced a strong St Peters OC side at Caterer oval on Saturday, the team had six debutants playing their first game of A grade Football and a new captain Dan McCallum. They were Matthew Dnistriansky, Brad Lymn, Jett Boxer, James Warton, Harry Wright and the late inclusion Stewart Greenslade for the late withdrawal of Nick Murphy. So, this was going to be a tough challenge against a full-strength SPOC side.
We started very well in the first quarter and lead 4 goals to 1 early, with our forwards being very busy, especially Patrick Dawson, Paul Fantasia in his first game back and Zip Zap Stefan Lanzoni our on baller/Forward looking very dangerous. They were ably fed by Will Mead and Dylan Reinbrecht out of the centre clearances. Scores ROCS - 6 goals straight to SPOC - 5 goals 2 behinds.
The second Quarter was a different story with SPOC getting on top with better disposal and more run, with their big forwards being too strong for our undersized backline. We still had plenty of the ball but our inaccurate disposal and decision making let us down. The loss of Fanta (Paul Fantasia) and Zip Zap (Stefan Lanzoni) was a bitter blow to our forward line and rotations, but to the teams’ credit they battled hard. Lewis McCormack lifted and became a focal point at CHF. Scores ROCS-7-7 to SPOC – 13-7.
We responded well in the third quarter with every one contributing and working hard, but our turnovers and decision making let us down later in this quarter. Scores ROCS – 10.6 to SPOC – 20.11
Fourth quarter was hard fought but SPOC was again too strong. Final Scores ROCS 11-7 to SPOC – 24.14.
Best players were Will Mead, Mitch Carrol, Lewis McCormack, Dylan Reinbrecht, James Warton, Patrick Dawson, and special mention to Hayden Swanbury.
There are some very encouraging signs, so we look to our first home game this week at the Quarry and look forward to seeing you there.
Ben Watkins
A Grade Coach
