Round 16 Match Report – Seniors

Hinterland 11.10-76 def by Kedron 19.10-124

This may well haunt me for a little while as the one that got away. Looking at the scoreline it’s probably what most in the competition expected, if you were at the game though you would have seen a 3 and a half quarter arm wrestle before injuries finally took their toll.

We started as brightly as I’ve seen us this year, attacking the contest, moving the ball well and defending intelligently. We certainly surprised Kedron as we kicked the first 4 goals of the match and dominated the contest for the majority of the quarter. Our lapse late cost us though with Kedron kicking the last 2 to get them back to 11 points. It was noticeable how much Fairy’s inclusion helps our backline structure with us cutting off a lot of opposition kicks because of our aggressive positioning. Astley seems to be picking it up as well with a huge improvement from him as the year has gone on. The flip side of aggressive defending is that the opposition can get in behind on turnovers and we certainly had a few kicked against us in that fashion, particularly late.

We lost Alec early in the second with a rolled ankle that eventually saw him scratched from the match. It is another in a long line of injuries this year for Alec with back and concussion issues causing him to miss large chunks of the year. Despite that we continued to battle with Kedron winning out on the scoreboard 5 goals to 2 to win the quarter. Our inaccuracy will haunt us though having kicked 5 behinds in that time, many from very gettable spots on the field. Dan continued his stellar first season at the club, once again attracting a tag for much of the game. Didn’t seem to slow him down until a broken nose late in the third impeded his breathing and much of his influence on the game. Mal was likewise solid with his move to more midfield than wing seeing him get a bit more of the ball. He still has a lot to learn but has set himself a great platform moving into next season. Belly continued to do what he does, rack up the ball on the inside and get into dangerous positions. He reckons that the trick is to give average disposals so you get the ball back but I’m not sure that is entirely accurate.

Starting the third just 4 points behind we were immediately dealt another blow with Princess straining his already suspect groin again. It was disappointing as he had been solid in the first half and meant that Sammy Noble had to go a bit deeper and play key position. Coupled with Blake copping a hit to the hand and Jordies already dodgy shoulder our rotations were becoming limited. D.J. was back at it in the ruck again and was immense playing one out most of the day. He certainly had the upper hand and was ably supported by Kratzy on the rare occasion he did need a rest. Hynsey pinged his ‘good’ hammy halfway through the quarter, he was having a real influence off the wing and it was disappointing for him not to be able to finish the game. We watched the game start to slip as Kedron went into the break 19 points up but the attitude was great from the boys.

It wasn’t to be though as Kedron piled on 7 goals to 2 in the final term to blow the score out to 50 points. Couldn’t be prouder of our guys who kept coming despite being out on their feet for much of the last. Simmo played predominantly through the middle and also snagged a couple of nice goals but started cramping badly by the end. Bryce, who played one of his best games, also struggled for half the last quarter as a heavy knock limited his breathing. Wass was really solid off half back in his first game in the 1’s for a couple of weeks while John Holcombe got the best run of ball bounces I’ve ever seen in the first half and was likewise solid all day.

The way we played was encouraging though and yet another reminder for the group that we aren’t far off the best. Fitness is still an issue and isn’t going to be solved in the short term, but the skills were far superior to last week as was our positioning and run. My greatest hope for our club is that the players can see we are heading in the right direction and that they stick around for another crack next year. If we can retain 90% of the list and recruit the same amount we did this year we will have the depth and the chemistry to have a real run at finals in both grades. One game to go though so all focus goes to Redcliffe this week as we look to send Steve out with a good win.

Go Blues