Yarra Junior Football League Under 11 Blue 1st semi-final.

Fitzroy 3 6.6 (42) d Richmond 3.6 (24) at Greythorn Park, Sunday, August 12, 2007.

A year ago, almost to the day, Terry O’Reilly’s Roy Boys had entered the first semi final with a mixture of hope and innocence. The record shows that they lost after a brave effort against a tougher and bigger North Brunswick. This year, the Roys’ opponent in the first final was Richmond, and as the clouds parted over Greythorn Park at around 9.30am, a rainbow emerged, casting an auspicious light on the boys as they went through their warm-ups. And they needed to be warm. As the morning went on, the temperature felt like it was plummeting, and the rain came and went. It was real winter and the Roys were as cold as a July Friday night at ‘G.

For the first half, Richmond was the dominant team. The Tigers managed to stop all of the Roys’ run. The ball was caught in pockets and packs, where quick-thinking Tigers pounced to send the ball forward with alarming regularity.

The pressure on the Roys’ defence in the first quarter was immense. It was all too clear that this really was a final: everyone seemed to know that this was sudden-death. Yet the ‘Roys defenders refused to wilt. The kept doing the hard things. Sam spoilt a couple of Tiger forwards not once but twice. Lachlan smothered once and then followed it up, to drive the ball out of danger. Walt wore the pressure like a glove and thrived on the contest. Richmond’s big forwards towered over Nick B, but he was too quick and elusive for them. Fraser darted out of trouble in the back pocket and kept the O’Reilly wall intact. But it couldn’t last and Richmond managed to score a goal, the only one of the term. Even then, the Roys refused to yield and Atticus, who had been crook all week, made a desperate smother that typified the Roys’ spirit.

It was not over yet, but the Roys were under the pump and hadn’t scored by quarter time. The looked sluggish and lacked their usual spark. Richmond resumed where it had left off, trying to move the ball quickly and relying on the tall timber to take big marks. Sebastian, off the bench, was quickly into the action and displaying his speed on the wing. Martin sharked a loose ball, ran hard and delivered in to the forward line and Lewis got some hard-ball gets as the Roys threatened to score. Noah was working his way on to his left foot and Will took a strong mark on the half-forward line, but their efforts could not stop Richmond scoring their second goal. At half time, the Roys had only three behinds and trailed by 15 points.

Terry was calm but direct about what the boys had to do – they had to win the ball. Get it first. Get it forward. And then something clicked. In the opening moments of the third term, Nick B weaved his way through traffic and sneaked the Roys’ first. Richmond kept coming and Kent connected with a ball arcing toward goal, followed up his own kick and charged the ball in to attack. With the ball in the forward line, Jaquan backed himself to win the contest, was tackled and won a free. He kicked truly and the Roys were back in town. Yet just when it seemed they had some momentum, Richmond pinched a goal back.

These are the moments that tell you about a team’s character, and the Roys have a lot of it. From the centre, Atticus grabbed the ball and sent it forward where Noah latched on to it to send the ball into the goal square. Max was there, and like he has all season, managed to loop one through. So it was only three points the difference at three quarter time.

Terry reminded the boys in his measured way that they wouldn’t want to have regrets at the end of the game, that they didn’t want to wonder “what if?’’ when the siren sounded. They had to give it their all for the last quarter. The boys were noisy and keen. They were ready.

And it showed. Suddenly, Richmond couldn’t seem to get enough of the ball. The Roys were finding space, but they were also taking marks. Charlie took a pack mark in the forward line, and Max was almost there to convert, but the ball spilled free where David swooped to kick the goals that put the Roys in front. Then Aleks burst out of the middle and found Charlie, who took another beauty in the goal square, and slotted it through. The footy got stuck in the trees behind the goals but not even that stalled the Roys’ momentum. Once more they surged in to the forward line where a chain of possessions led to Dave kicking his second for the quarter. It snuffed out Richmond’s resistance and meant that the Roys would go one better than last year, and on to the preliminary final.

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