Under 11 - 3
FJFC U-11 Blue 9.6 (60) d St Damian's 2.3 (15), July 15, 2007
The school holiday break was over but the boys might still have
been dreaming of mucking about at home if their first quarter was
anything to go by. Or perhaps Terry was on to something when he
reminded the Roys at quarter time that they looked like they thought
it was going to be an easy win: St Damian's were near the bottom of
the ladder. Thought it'd be a cinch. Wrong. Very wrong.
St Damian's burst out of the blocks and before the Roys had time to
settle, the home side had scored a goal and then another. They
looked fresh and ready for the contest. In contrast, Fitzroy looked a
little tired. It took Nick B's canny roving to snap the Roys first
late in the quarter, but it was against the run of play. St Damian's
talls were taking uncontested marks around the ground, and working
the ball in to the wide, dry open spaces of the wing and flanks.
So the Roys had some work to do in the second quarter. And everyone
started to lift. Aleks kicked a goal from close-in and Fraser,
stationed at full-forward, managed to trap the ball on the boundary
line and screw the ball in to Elia's waiting arms in the goal square
for another. The centre, a dark, gooey, muddy place, was where the
Roys started to gain control. Jaquan was in his element winning the
hard ball, Jesse laid some telling shepherds and Sebastian took a
couple of brave grabs as the Roys started to get to marking contests.
Down back, Max took a bit of punishment in some tough tackles. Martin
was starting to win more of the ball and he sent a handpass to
Fraser, who kicked the Roys' fourth for 13-point lead at half-time.
The Roys might have thought they still had the momentum after the
long break, but St Damian's oranges must have been pretty powerful.
They were fearless attacking the footy and threw everything at the
Roys' defence. Noah was a one-man wall, repelling a couple of goals
with last-ditch efforts, but even he could not stop one goal bouncing
through. St Damian's kept coming and Walt, calm and assured, led a
defence that featured some strong solo work from Nick N, a
polished effort from Atticus and Connor's desperate intervention when
another opposition goal seemed likely. In a blink, the ball went
forward where Fraser made a smother close to goal, followed it up and
kicked his second for the match.
Within seconds of the restart for the final quarter, Sam had found
Charlie with a delightful kick to the square. Charlie scored the goal
and it was clear the Roys were back in the groove. Elia in the ruck
knocked the ball to Dave, who smeared with a bucketful of mud for his
efforts, broke free, looked up and found Patrick with a pass on the
wing, who speared it on to Fraser, who passed it off to an unmarked
Adam, who delivered to Charlie in the goalsquare. And Charlie converted. Champagne football? You bet! Adam was unstoppable across
half-forward and twice-more Dave drove the ball in to the forward-
line. Martin found himself charging for goal and kicked it. Then, in
the dying moments, Noah took a strong mark and kicked the Roys' ninth
to complete an impressive win against a tough opponent. |
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