Round 11 Match Report

Ashburton 21 . 8 - 134

Fitzroy 6 . 6 - 42

Even the Ashburton players and parents tell us how poor their home ground is and they are right - it's tiny, the centre square is a bog, the ground slopes from one side to the other and the grass is patchy.  Like Ramsden St, the Ashburton ground gets plenty of wind and the Ashy boys know how to make the most of it.  We lost the toss and they kicked 10 goals in the 1st quarter with the benefit of a very strong wind.  The result of the game was decided before quarter time.  For the second week in a row we failed to make the most of the wind advantage and had a poor 2nd quarter.  Despite talking about the importance of starting well both at training during the week and in the rooms before this game, we lacked desperation for the ball and looked and played like a beaten team.  Fortunately, we came out in the 2nd half and played much better team footy.  We equalled Ashburton on the scoreboard in the 2nd half after cranking up our intensity, having a real go at getting the footy and laying almost twice the number of tackles compared to our first half.  Several of the Ashy players said after the game that they were gobsmacked by our increased effort in the 3rd and 4th quarters.  This is the story of our entire season – capable of great footy – competitive with the best teams in Gold – and yet inconsistent - never quite able to play our best footy across all 4 quarters.  That is our challenge for the next few weeks – to finish off the season playing hard, committed footy for 4 quarters.

 
                             Go the ROYS!!!