Under 11-1 - Match Report

Canterbury       0.1       0.1       0.2       0.2         2
Fitzroy              0.0       1.3       1.3       1.6       12

The U11 Browns traveled to the rain belt to Balwyn to play Canterbury, a side against which they had recorded a victory in round two. This was another big ground with an almost circular profile meaning the wings were potential dead zones. Lucien and Chas were joint captains for the day.
The followers for the first quarter were Declan, Charles and Aiden. From the start the pattern of play for the day was established. Whilst the ground was well drained and virtually free of standing water the ball was like a greased piglet, as persistent “soft rain” fell for the first half. For the early part of the quarter, with the breeze favouring their goal, the ball was in Canterbury’s half. Eventually Canterbury’s sustained forward movement resulted in a rushed behind. Noah at centre half forward gained possession, ran and bombed the ball into to the hot spot, and then when it was rebounded out, took a great mark. Gus was doing good work in the backline with saving marks, and Lucien seemed to be following the ball all over the ground but in the end Fitzroy had failed to trouble the scorer.
In the second quarter Chas, George, and Andrej were on the ball. With the breeze to our advantage the ball was locked in Fitzroy’s scoring zone resulting in behinds to Rushed, Dan and Louis, before Harry J. converted a free kick for a major. Then in their most dangerous forward movement Canterbury had two shots from marks 10 m out, both of which missed everything! Fortunately the ball was swept out of the danger zone by Dan, Lucien, and Andrej.
The third quarter was Canterbury’s last use of the breeze, and turned into a dour struggle. The ball moved up and down the ground in a maul, sometimes only 5 m between bounces. Eddie led the ruck division, along with Gus and Eddie, and did some great palming to team mates. The only score for the quarter was a behind to Canterbury. Late in the quarter Otis received a free deep in the pocket, but the siren sounded forcing him to take an unlikely shot.
At three quarter time coach Michael praised the boys and told them to continue to work hard to move the ball forward, away from Canterbury’s scoring zone.
For the last quarter Chas was back in ruck, supported by Isaac, and Harry J. Early on Chas kicked the ball to the hot spot where Noah took a great pack busting mark. His kick on goal led to a rushed behind. Isaac was prominent with 2 pickups on the run including one that gave Andrej a mark and another kick to the goal square, and a rushed behind. Noah then changed codes to soccer, with 3 consecutive kicks along the ground that pushed the ball into the forward line. The final score was yet another rushed behind.
Whilst Fitzroy had been the dominant team, and had boosted their percentage, the conditions had been a great leveler, and meant that Canterbury were always threatening. During the match Fitzroy players made four attempts to bounce the ball, none of them successful!
Despite the complementary things said by Canterbury’s coach after the match we are certainly not assured of a berth in the finals. There are seven sides realistically competing for four places, and one bad loss could see us drop out of the four. So let’s keep a lid on it and take it one game at a time.

“Chicken Smallhorn”