Round 4 Match Report: Seniors

Coming into the round I'm sure opposition looked at our fixture thinking it would be a blowout. A 0-3 team against a 3-0 team looks an easy tip, correct in this case, but certainly not in the expected fashion. We started strongly in a pressure sense with plenty of blokes digging in for the ball and tackling hard. I'm sure D.J. nearly killed a bloke with a hit early in the piece but he must have gotten up as I don't recall seeing the ambulance. We wasted a couple of early opportunities at goal that were very gettable, though our 1.3 was outweighed by Wynumm's 1.7. Sheldon presented well from CHF and kicked our opener, he worked hard to give the midfield a target and competed fantastically at ground level as well. His brother Jordan started in the backline and gave us a lot of drive early. Had to kick on the left a few times which looked a bit sketchy but more than made up for it with his run and carry.

Wynumm got on top a bit in the second with their work out of the middle really opening us up. It was disappointing as we had a number of opportunities and were on top around stoppages, just a lack of polish let us down. Kratzy got us moving early, winning a very generous 50m penalty and then goaling. That was followed up by our courageous captain finding himself streaming into the forward line only to miss the shot at goal wide. I know he will be dirty with that as those chances don't often come up for long term backmen. Some nice work in traffic from Princess opened up a big back door handball that ended in a Matty Woodforde goal. Was a genuinely sexy bit of teamwork that I'd like to see some more of. As always the effort was there, with Kratzy following up a couple of tackles and winning a 2 on 1 to lock the ball down forward late. It wasn't enough to win the quarter though, partially due to our lack of accountability and partially to Wynumm figuring out the goals are the bigger sticks they skipped out to an 18 point halftime lead. 

Our third quarter started with a bang with D.J. moved into the ruck. The opposition ruckman got on the end of another D.J. special and didn't look that happy when he eventually scraped himself of the ground. Young John Baker really started to impact the score board after a move to the forward line in the second half. He kicked a ripping goal playing on around a man on the mark and was a real threat in our forward 50 for the rest of the game. At just 15 he had no fear of the bigger bodies and is a scary prospect for opposition teams at this point, let alone when he finishes growing. Their mids got ahold of us through the mid section of the quarter though with their speed on the outside troubling us in particular. Rhys had a move to the midfield and did a great job shutting down a couple of dangerous players, he is only a few games into his return to football but is starting to really look at home out there.Reminiscent of our game against Redcliffe we really owned the last quarter. "Little" kicked another absolute corker of a goal from deep in the pocket and formed a good combo with Kratzy, setting him up for a cider shortly after. Kratzy also kicked a sneaky one in traffic and the comeback was on. Fairy came alive down back and sold that much candy in the last quarter that the people at Allen's Confectionery have reportedly offered him a large salary to give away the mowing. No word yet on the outcome but as long as he keeps that rebound out of the backline happening I believe we should match any offer. Rhys continued to tackle with a vengeance and was bouncing between opposition players like a pinball. At 23 minutes into the last quarter though Wynumm got the sealer and the comeback fell short by 20 points. Kratzy finished with a bag of 6 an Little had 4 whilst little Johnny kicked his first in the seniors. 

It was another super encouraging display from a team that is still gelling and was missing a number of key players. Dasha came off with a knee injury in the 3rd but with the bye looming we are a good chance of regaining a number of players for the round 5 match with Ipswich. It feels like a team that is building and when that dam wall bursts, we are going to be very hard to stop. Looking forward to the break and then attacking the next part of the season with vigor.

Go Blues