Coaches Report - R3
A Grade strong four quarter win against Old Ignatians in front of large crowd at ROC Park
A Grade Report - R3 vs Old Ignatians
This was a terrific result against a star studded opponent in front of a big crowd of enthusiastic supporters. We showed a lot of character as both Anthony Medhurst and Luke Manuel were injured in the first ten minutes of the game and could play no further part in the game, leaving us with only one on the bench on a pretty warm day.
To our credit, we played with real passion and consistency, putting in a four quarter effort and tackling and pressuring the oppositon most of the day. Again, some of our running football was very effective and Drew was deadly accurate, kicking 8 goals and making the most of his opportunities.
It was hard to pick best players as we were a pretty even team. Chris Pahl kicked 4, Ryan Holm was really steady in defence, Craig Holm full of life and Matt Dawes experience was again valuable. Our undersized defenders competed well against much taller opponents.
Congratulations to Cheese on his 200th and Tom Bowler who did well in his 50th.
Tim Hart
A Grade Coach
B Grade Report - R3 vs Old Ignatians
Against Old Ignatians, the reserves played well in patches, but a lack of consistency in pressure and intensity saw us record a disappointing 44 point loss. The first quarter was intense with some hard body clashes and we had as much of the ball as Old Ignatians, but again we let ourselves down infront of goal and trailed by 11 points at quarter time. Old Ignatians came out strong and kicked the first 3 goals of the quarter and it wasn't until Nick Lyons burst through a pack and goaled our second for the game that created a spark. Everyone lifted and we scored the next 4 goals to be within 8 points at half-time.
Again consistency and our inability to finish off in front of goals cost us in the third term. Old Ignatians scored the first 4 goals of the quarter before John Derrington scored his third personal goal just before three quarter time to give us a slim chance of stealing a win. The last quarter saw Old Ignatians work harder and score the first three goals of the term, then we played some good footy for a period to score the next three goals in a row. Four goals down with about five minutes to go, we dropped our intensity again and Old Ignatians scored the last three goals to blow the final margin out.
Best players were pretty easy to find as these were the players who put in a consistent 4 quarter effort. Trent Versace was easily our best at centre-half forward, presenting and competing well and took some great marks sending us forward on many occasions. John Derrington was moved to full forward in the second quarter and was part of the spark in the second term and finished with 5 goals. Tom Taylor worked hard on the ball and continually kept his head over the ball, Ollie Bowler did a great tagging job across half back and Alex McKenzie won the ball in ruck consistently and tried hard over the ground.
At the clubrooms after the game we celebrated the 200 game milestone to Paul "Cheesy" Arnfield. Cheese is a fantastic clubman and is important to our reserves side adding experience to a young team where 90% of the team are under 22 years of age. Cheese was able to kick a goal in the final quarter and made a solid contribution to the team. It was disappointing we couldn't reward him with a win in his milestone game, but we'll try and register a win in his 201st against Walkerville the weekend after Easter.
Glen Maklin
B Grade Coach
C Grade Report R3 vs Old Ignatians
After our comfortable first round win over Ovingham the C-Grade were expecting a sound test against a highly rated old foe in St Ignatius and were surely tested in a fiery contest. The effort from the team, particularly the attack on the ball, was there in the first half but wasteful disposal and inaccurate kicking left us trailing 1.9 to 6.2 at the main break. At half time however all the talk was positive as we knew we were definitely not out of the contest and could bank on our fitness for the second half.
A few positional changes and some more efficient football saw the team regroup and attack more positively in the third quarter. Late in the term the ROCS hit the lead after piling on six goals and at three quarter time were ahead 7.15 to 6.3. The final term began with ROCS continuing their effort to run all over the top of St Ignatius in a fiery and sometimes spiteful encounter. ROCS ran out winners 11.17 to 7.3.
Jesse Abfalter and Dan Gilbert continued their superb start to the season and made it a hard choice to pick the best player. Hayden Edwards' move to the forward line provided plenty of spark in the second half and Nick Rendell played a huge last quarter pulling down some big marks and kicking two crucial goals. Patrick Murphy, our Best Team Man for the day, provided plenty of leadership and marshalled the midfield and his long bomb goal on the three quarter time siren kept a handy lead intact. Vice Captain Vic Pisanello won the hard ball all day and provided plenty of drive from the centre while Alex Kelly held the backline together and won his position all day.
Congratulationss to our two debutants Andrew Sellar and Charlie O'Connor who will no doubt remember a great win to start their ROCS career.
The challenge for the ROCS C-Grade now is to keep the early season momentum going after the Easter break, however there is no doubt that we have certainly started the season in the right fashion.
Steve Edwards
C Grade Coach
