FJFC U-13 Blue 2 4.5 (29) lt St Marys T 7.14 (56) at Ramsden St,
June 28
It’s a bit of a luxury to have two games in a row at home: bit
like playing for Collingwood – you don’t have to travel too
often. But it was also a great day to celebrate the 50th game milestone
for Jaquan and Sebastian, who have been with the Roys since the early
days and have shared plenty of triumphs over the years with quite a
few of the current team. School holidays and a bit of illness meant
the team was down on numbers and the pine was short of a full complement.
For the first 10 minutes of the game, the Roys played champagne footy.
They kept the forward line open and moved the ball quickly in to attack.
It took no time at all to Max H to find himself alone in the left forward
pocket. He dropped the ball on to his left foot and the ball angled
through for the first goal of the game. Sam H and Andre were lively
around the packs and the Roys were away, in style.
But St Marys, which had beaten the Roys by five goals in the first
match of the season, started to claw their way back in to the game.
They started to pepper the goals, and before long had drawn level, and
then by quarter time, held a 16-point lead.
Coach Richard was thoughtful at the first break. It was true that Fitzroy
had dominated the first part of the game, so the boys just had to recapture
the spirit of those minutes. Easier said than done. But there were some
promising signs. Unlike last week when some marks seemed to spill free,
there was some strong marks being taken under pressure – Wiz conjured
one and Neddy another. Digby’s second efforts were good, and Josh
was still taking them on, standing up in the tackle, while a couple
of St Marys’ boys hung on to his arms, more in hope that the big
fella would somehow cough up the footy. No such luck.
St Marys managed a couple more goals and had a good lead at half time.
Footy can be a hard game: you can feel that the eyes of the coach and
everyone else are on you when you make a mistake. But the boys are learning
how to cope with some of those moments, to regroup and keep going in,
to keep trying and to work their way back in to the game.
It’s hard work though when the wind’s against you, and although
it wasn’t quite as bad as the hurricane horizontal rain that fell
at Subiaco the night before, the breeze was pretty stiff, and in the
third quarter blowing St Marys way. But they kicked a goal’s worth
of behinds, as well as two majors despite some inspired Roys’ moves
in to the forward line.
It looked pretty desperate for the Roys, but they rallied and players
lifted across the ground. Connor B got a bit of the footy, so too did
Ahmed, while Hugh just kept working across half back. Josh pounced on
a loose ball and roostered a beauty, and then Wiz kicked another from
the pocket. When Josh kicked his second for the quarter just before
the siren, the Roys had actually outscored the visitors since three
quarter time. But the gap on the scoreboard was too great, and St Marys
ran out winner by 27 points
Under 13 Blue 2