Match Report

Round 08

Fitzroy Blue 11.14 (80) d Bulleen-Templestowe 6.4 (40) at Brunswick St, Fitzroy, May 30, 2010 Back to the Roys Boys ancestral home for a top-of-the table tussle with our tormentors from round one, Bulleen-Templestowe. The Roys were struggling for numbers, but Kai pulled on the jumper and at least there was a bench of two. For a while it looked like the match wouldnt start at all because the umpire had not turned up but a reserve umpire was sent for and the footy got underway about half an hour late. Perhaps the Roys were waiting for their chance because they flew out of the blocks, quicker than one of Tony Locketts greyhounds. Mo someone found the space to score the first goal and when Seb, working hard in close, managed to find Ahmed, who got it to Connor, the Roys had two. The boys were getting it out of the centre and moving it quickly. Speed and desire for the footy had their rewards: Kent won a free by being first to the ball, and goalled. Moments later Connor drew another free and he too converted to give the Roys a big lead at quarter time. And then it all came to a grinding halt. Stopped. Didnt work anymore. Couldnt do it anymore. And Bulleen sensed the change in mood and went for it. Sure, the Roys still seemed to be getting their hands on it a bit and Kent, by perseverance and grit, managed to kick his second goal but Bulleen was starting to look hungry. A rash of Fitzroy points stretched the lead but it looked fragile. And no surprise, Bulleen conjured a goal. It set the mood for the third quarter when Bulleens wheels started to turn. They were running in numbers and looking, and then finding, each other. The Roys seemed trapped in trying to push the ball forward in packs. Clean handballs and kicks to players in space were suddenly rare. The tension mounted with each tick of the clock: Bulleen kicked, one, then another and then another. The Roys defence was under siege. By the time the three quarter time siren sounded, it was a goal the difference. Yet the boys held their nerve and there was still plenty of belief they could win it, against the wind and the run of the play. The attitude worked. Within minutes a goal square scrimmage led Kent to soccer one through. Then Mu took a slick handball from Charlie and went down the ground with a searing run and kick that found Connor deep in the left forward pocket. Hard against the boundary line, Connor slotted it and gave the Roys some breathing space. But that wasnt enough: Ahmed took off for his own withering run and tackle that brought down a Bulleen player and led, soon after to an Alex goal. The intensity of the first quarter was back and Al sharked a beauty from the pack and found Wiz with a lovely kicky. A goal followed. Nix trapped one at centre half-forward, fed it out, and the Roys had another. Jesse was running through the lines and then Kai, in his first match, found his way through a pack to snag his first goal. The Roys were over the line. Bulleen snatched one back towards the end, but it was a 40-point win to the Roys. Whats that they say about footy being a game of two halves? Too true the good, the bad and the ugly, all there on a Sunday afternoon. Still, it was enough to lift the Roys to the top of the ladder. And now everyone wants to beat them. Tough stuff Roys. Nick Richardson

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