Back to Ramsden St and the familiar faces of the other Fitzroy – for the second time this season. These are friendly contests and everyone on both sides wants a good game. This time, it was the other Fitzroy’s turn to wear the Yarra league strip, but we knew they were Roy Boys at heart. And they scored first, with a big goal in the opening minutes of the match.
Not long after, Nick B sent a free kick to the top of the square and the ball bounced off hands and in to the waiting arms of James T who made no mistake. Jesse W seized on a loose ball in the middle of the ground, went for a run and calmly kicked the Roys’ second. All around, there was some creative play: Nick N at centre half-forward was directing traffic and James A cleverly switched play to set up another forward thrust. Moments late, James T kicked his second for the quarter and the Roys were away.
Martin set up Charlie with a goal early in the second quarer and then Patrick won a free with a strong tackle that he converted for another goal. Jaquan was nimble through the midfield and took a couple of big marks Then Elia cut loose with several withering runs deep in to attack that led to a snapped goal and a 34-point lead at half-time. The Roys were showing some fine skills – Jesse W was prepared to run off his opponent and in to space to create a lead and Lucy let fly with a series of swift and telling handballs out of big packs.
It could have been a lot harder with the wind against them in the third quarter, but the Roys kept peppering the goals. Josh on a wing was pivotal in driving the ball forward, but it took a long bomb to the goal square for Goalsneak Max to kick the Roys’ seventh. Yet the other Roys kept persevering and added their second before three quarter time.
With the wind in their sails, the Roys kicked six in the final quarter. Josh found Charlie in the goal square for Charlie’s second, Max added two more, pinching his chances almost while no one was looking, and Kieran chimed in with another. Sebastian found his goalkicking form and kicked two, the second after being on the receiving end of a pass from his brother. And there it ended, a strong performance from the Roys in their first game back after the holidays. Only four games left now and the winter gets colder every week.
