Under 12 GoldCoach: Jamie Croft [jcroft@directrecruitment.com.au]
Team Manager: Graham Lanphier Training: Wednesday 4 - 5.30pm, Saturday 10.45am-12.00pm Alfred Crescent Under 12 GOLD Fixture >>> Under 12 GOLD Results >>> Under 12 Gold Match ReportsROUND 16 KEW V FITZROY Our last game for the year played out at Kew’s home ground of Macleay Oval was a ripper for the Royboys. After heavy rains throughout the week the ground was boggy and heavy but the conditions were mild and the ball was dry. It was a big game as Kew were battling for a place in the Finals. Maybe it was the mention of that word “Finals”, maybe it was just because it was our last game. Whatever it was, or boys were committed at the ball from the first bounce. We easily played our best football for the season, talking, backing up, combining as a team and had the better of Kew all day. We lead all day and won each quarter. It was a great effort. The final score was Fitzroy 8 – 6 54 to Kew 2-5 17; Fitzroy running out easy winners by 6 goals. It was good for us to knock off a side that was in the four. It showed us that we can match it with the Gold teams when we combined and played as a team. It was good to see players enjoying and playing well in new positions. Reis had his first game in the back-pocket and put in four committed quarters, laying free-kick winning tackles and picking up kicks and hand-balls in hard fought packs. It was a fine Captains game from Reis. Our other captain, Callum, also had a superb four quarters at full-back, taking a number of marks that repelled attacks deep in the oppositions forward line. It was great stuff. Hoddy and Dylan had terrific days, repeatedly winning the ball in one on one contests and always brave in the packs stopping the opposition getting away. McGee’s pace and running goal in the second quarter and involvement in the play of the day was first class football. Just on that play of the day in the third quarter: Hoddy beats two on the wing boundary and chips the ball to a leading CHF in Zander, who marks strongly and lays off a handpass pass to McGee, anticipating beautifully and going at full tilt down from the wing. McGee spears a “centimetre perfect” pass to Oscar, who marks, dodges his man and pops it through… it was a great bit of football. Michaels superb ruck efforts in the second quarter kept us on top when the opposition were trying to come back. Jessie’s on-ball endeavour and ability to win the ball was fantastic; we have found a new rover. Finlay did well when the ball was near him. It’s unfair to leave boys out of getting a mention but its time to finish up. Every boy knows I was proud of their efforts and everyone made a contribution to a great win. Thanks guys. It was fantastic to be able to walk off the ground at the last game hearing the boys singing our wonderful club song. What a way to end the season and we all look forward to next year. We have teams in the finals so try and come along to support them. The Under 12 Blue are in, so are the Under 11 Gold and Green, also my other son, Harry, is playing in the Under 15 gold. As you know, it’s great fun. Check the web-site for location details. Jamie Croft
Round 9 FITZROY VS KEW Played at Ramsden Street the game was a close one up till ¾ time, with Kew eventually running out easy winners by 6 goals. The final score was 5-5 to 11-7. To the boys credit they kept pressure on the third placed Kew for three quarters and had we kicked straight in the third quarter we could have been in front at three quarter time. We controlled the game in the second half of the third quarter but could only manage 1 goal 5 behinds for the quarter. Some goal kicking practice is in order at training this week! It was a close contest at three quarter time but Kew dominated the first half of the last quarter, kicking four quick goals without reply to close out the game. As I said in an earlier Match Report, the strong Gold level competition requires four quarters of good football. It is a challenge for us for the rest of the season. Keep going for four quarters. Some positives to take out of the game: Jason Hewitson and Dom Pound continued their good form of late with strong games throughout. Richard Earl’s attack on the ball and “I won’t give up attitude” in the last quarter saw him keep chasing opponents in a great piece of play in front of the coaches box in the last quarter. After a number of tackles and “second efforts” his final lunge at the player with the ball saw him cop a kicked footy full into his face and a boot in the head for his troubles. Richie had to come off injured but his courage should be an inspiration and a lesson for his team-mates. There was one of our smallest players showing bravery on a day when we had too many players not wanting to go at the ball. We want to see some of our bigger players going harder at the footy in the next game. What was positive from a team perspective was that we were able to kick goals in each of the four quarters. James McGee continued his good goal-kicking form with another three for the game with Chris Pistevos also picking up a couple. There was also some terrific pieces of play, the best for the day being the smooth non-stop flow of the ball from the half-back line through a number of kicks and hand-passes for a great running goal by McGee in the third quarter. That’s the FLOW that makes these boys a pleasure to coach. So for our next game: It is against Hawthorn Citizens at 1.00pm at Ramsden Street. The Citzs have only won a couple of games and the computer predicts us by 1 point. This game will be a great opportunity for us to get our first win on the board. We can do that if we play as a team for four quarters
ROUND 8: FITZROY vs BALWYN at Citizens Park MANY THANKS TO PHYLLIS PATCAS FOR THE PHOTOS FROM ROUND 8. PLEASE BRING YOUR DIGITAL CAMERAS ALONG AND BECOME ELIGIBLE FOR THE UNDER 12 GOLD "PHOTO OF THE YEAR". ACTION SHOTS REALLY MAKE THE MATCH REPORT! THE MORE PHOTOS THE MERRIER. What a game! Fitzroy took on Balwyn, last years Gold premiers and played magnificently, going down by only a couple of points; 4-5 to 4-2. If ever there was a game that matches the phrase " won everywhere except on the scoreboard" then this was the one. We won the first, third and last quarters; keeping the premiers goalless in the first and last quarters. I felt we were clearly the best side on the day and deserved to win but we just failed to get up. That's footy, sometimes it goes that way. It doesn't matter. What was more important than winning or losing was the way we played. We played tremendous footy. The lesson from todays game: We were focused before the game and ready to play in the first quarter, it makes a huge difference. I also said at the start of the game that half the battle in football is won if you keep your eyes on the ball and run hard at it...and keep running hard at it until it is out of your area. We did that all day and it made a huge difference. We wanted to win the footy and it showed. We rarely gave them any space, won turnovers and were able to push the loose ball our way. Our back line was terrific all day, particularly Alexander at full back and Justin at centre half back. They ran hard at the ball, repelled numerous attacks and sent the ball long into our forward line. All the other back-men battled well when the ball was loose. Oscar, Jessie, Dan, Michael, Richard and Finlay, as well as the others, all going in hard and winning crucial possessions. There were some great passages of teamwork. The one that resulted in Dom's third quarter running goal was particularly impressive and was easily the best passage of play for the day. It involved a string of hand-passes, ending with Jason Hewitson running past and then spinning a hand pass out to Dom, who kicked a great running goal. It was one of many good efforts for Dom, who is working hard at Centre Half Forward The second half fight-back was fantastic. Last time we played Balwyn we let the game slip at half time and they ran over us in the second half. This time we didn't let that happen. It was us who got the better of them, bridging the 16 point half-time gap. James McGee was sensational all day and relished the opportunities when he went forward, kicking running goals in the first, third and final quarters to notch three for the day. Reis easily had his best game for the year, taking a great mark and putting his body on the line by going in hard and winning loose balls for us. Luke had his first opportunity for the year to ruck most of the day. His leap was impressive and he won most of the hit-outs all day, to give us first opportunity at the ball. We will see more of Luke in the ruck this year and his challenge is to keep improving his game. The on-ball brigade of Hoddy, Jordan and Dylan was particularly impressive, winning kicks and bursting away from the packs all day. Dylan, when playing on the wing, was able to get loose in the centre and be a link player to switch play and send the ball down the centre corridor. He did this twice and more importantly his teammates took the risk and kicked it across ground to him rather than just banging the ball forward down the boundary line along the wing. This really opened up the play and was sensational team football. We will build on this tactic of having a loose winger in the center when the ball is near the boundary between half back and wing. Boys, it's great to see you play good football. It was easily our best game of the year and the improvements we have seen over the last three weeks is very pleasing. Teams that play good football will win games. We look forward to taking on Kew next week, 11.30 at Ramsden Street. Jamie Croft: Coach
UNDER 12 GOLD MATCH REPORT: ROUND 7 vs BEVERLEY HILLS
Our Round 7 game was played at Ramsden street in mild conditions with a wind advantage to the southern (city) end. In what was a closely contested match Beverley Hills got up by 15 pts, 6 - 5 to Fitzroys 4 – 3.
We had some excellent passages of play against Beverley Hills and there is no doubt that we are playing good football in the last two games. If we keep at it our first win should be just around the corner.
Beverley Hills made good advantage of the wind in the first quarter, booting four goals to our none. It was the quarter that made the difference as Fitzroy outplayed and outscored Beverly Hills for the next three quarters; kicking four goals to Beverley Hills two goals. However a four goal lead proved too much and we just couldn't peg them back to get a win.
It was very pleasing to see the boys play good football and force their way back into the game but…
The lesson from this game is very simple. Four quarters of good football wins games.
Gold level is a very strong competition and to win we have to play good football for four quarters. Three quarters of good football is not enough at Gold level.
Against Beverley Hills it was our desire to go into the packs and get the ball and not let them get a flowing game that was exceptional. Every player at some stage contributed by going in to get the “hard ball”, but two players stood out, James Hodson and Jordan Batten. The “hard ball” is when the ball is being contested and the little bit of extra effort causes us to win the ball or causes a ball up rather than the opposition getting the ball away.
These two were always at the bottom of packs, diving to try and get the football. Their reward was picking up stacks of possessions all day.... Hoddy topping off a great game with a running goal in the second quarter that gave us our first goal for the game and lifted the whole team.
There were some good passages of team play throughout the day and it was good to see players kicking to a player up field who had got loose. It means we are looking to where we are kicking; which we have been working on at training. Our reward was to be able to move the ball quickly down the ground.
It was also a day of big overhead marks from Fitzroy. Marks are important and at Under 12 level more players are beginning to hold marks under pressure in pack situations. It's good to see.
Note that three of our four goals came from strong overhead marks from Dom, James McGee and Zanda in contested packs. Chris Smith, Hugh (who had an outstanding game clearing the ball from the back-line) and Chris Pistevos also took great speccys.
Improvements to work on at training this week: • Always have a Fitzroy player in front of the pack when some-one is kicking from a stoppage. A stoppage is a free-kick, mark or kick-out. Often a kick will fall short. There must be some-one in front to contest that ball.
2. Bring the ball back into the centre of the ground when we are moving into attack. Too often we were kicking and leading to the flanks rather than towards centre half forward Next week we come up against top of the ladder Balwyn; who won last years Gold Grand Final. Last week our old rivals, Glen Iris, beat Balwyn. It would be great for us to win as well. The Game is at 11.30 on our temporary home-ground at Citizens Park in Richmond . We know we can win as we played Balwyn in Round 1 and played two quarters of good football to lead them at half time.
It's like I said…we need to play four quarters of good football and we can beat any side.
Jamie Croft: Coach.
UNDER 12 GOLD MATCH REPORT: ROUND 6 vs CANTERBURY
Welcome to the first Match report for 2004. Please note that we are able to INCLUDE pictures with our report so if parents have any digital photos from future games please contact me or have a look at our web-site and I will tell you how we get them onto our report. It would be great to get some ACTION PHOTOS OF THE BOYS PLAYING into the reports.
Each match report will be different. It will name different players making some good efforts and note various skills, strategies and observations that will help us improve our game as the season goes on. If you don't get mentioned one week don't worry. The match report is not a list of the better players nor is it a list of everything that happened in the game. The match reports are just some notes on the game. Enjoy reading them.
Round 6 provided an exciting game out at Canterbury Sports Reserve in good conditions with a slight wind advantage to the far end. It was good to see the Roys play with a positive spirit, particularly after half time. It was a close game that could have gone either way; Canterbury finally prevailing 5-9 39 to 3-5 23. Half way through the last quarter, with the first goal of the quarter to us and only two straight kicks in it, the game got very exciting. Canterbury did well to steady and kick a sealer but the Roys never gave up and battled it out to the end. This was very pleasing to watch and I'm sure all the parents would be proud of the way the boys kept at it.
Many individual players were involved in either some excellent passages of team play or did some sensational individual efforts during the game. To name a few, in the first quarter there were a couple of telling marks from both Oscar across half back and Finlay on the wing. Oscar repelling attacks and Finlay collecting the ball as it came out of our backline. Further down in the backline Bate also stopped a couple of goals and Callum took a good mark in the last line of defence. Hugh also picked up good possessions off the half back flank.
The second quarter saw us post two goals; one following a lovely lead and mark from Pistevos. The other goal was a terrific snap from Luke that really got up into the air and looked great as it sailed through for a six-pointer.
There was a lesson in Chris's goal, as it bounced through from a set shot. That means that Canterbury didn't have some-one over the back of the pack. When the opposition is having a set shot always have someone in front of the pack for the short kick and over the back of the pack for the long kick.
At half-time I felt as a team we weren't going in hard enough, weren't getting in front and weren't going to the contest. We were leaving going hard at the loose ball to a few players and I asked the whole team to contribute more.
It was good to see the team respond, players came into the game who had been quiet. The Roys intensity and pace lifted in the third and last quarter and the team combined better to keep us in the contest. In the third quarter there was one nice string of handballs out on the far wing near the coaches boxes that was memorable. Jason Hewitson came into the game in the last quarter; attacking the ball for a nice mark at half forward and a second possession soon after. Jason Hoang made some terrific smothers and worked hard to get to the contest and keep the ball free when it looked like Canterbury were going to get possession.
At one stoppage in the last quarter Chris Smith dashed from the half back line, ran past our player who had got a free kick and created a loose player on the wing. Most importantly, that player (sorry, I can't remember who) rewarded Chris by kicking it to him and finding him on the chest. Chris was able to run on and drive the ball into an open forward line. It is always better to run the ball into the forward line like this than have a set kick to a big pack of players. It was a nice piece of team play and created the “loose man”, which is a key to success in footy and is where our “flow” often starts.
These are just some of the excellent patches of play from the Roys . If each player can turn those patches of play into more steady performances then we will turn exciting games and good bits of play into exciting wins.
We did have some steady performers who did well all day; included James Bate either in the back pocket or on the wing and our on-ball team of Batten, Hodson, Galligan and Patcas. They picked up many possessions, provided drive in each quarter and probably had the better of the Canterbury on-ballers.
Areas we need to improve... 1. Kicking accurately to “targets” and 2. Kicking with our opposite foot.
At training this week we will work on these two areas. They are areas of our game that let us down a bit this week and contributed to “turnovers” that we didn't want. Turnovers result in goals to the opposition and are generally what costs a side the game.
In a match many of our players still want to go round onto their natural kicking foot and get caught in those extra few seconds this takes. Push yourself to kick with both feet. It will make you a much better footballer and is better for the side. It is better to push the ball forward even a couple of metres than have a turnover. It is by taking risks during a match and using the skills you learn at training that you will improve.
Next week we have got Beverly Hills at Ramsden Street at 3.00 pm . Our challenge is to have all players contributing to their best ability all the time by going in hard at the contests AND playing good flowing team footy. If we can do that we can win. |
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