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After their season defining win over the top side the U13 Browns traveled to face the seemingly innocuous opposition of Parkside. The sun was shining, but the vast expanses of Pitcher Park were soft underfoot.
Chas was handling the centre bounces in the first quarter. Mike and Max M were prominent early before Noah's free kick from a free kick for a tackle, on the end of a feed from Gus and Andrej, was rushed through. Noah registered another behind after Gus marked the kick in, and Jim took a shot on goal. However a goal resorted from the next kick out, from consecutive marks to Mike and Noah. At the resulting centre bounce a free kick to Mike for a ruck infringement was relayed through marks to Gus and George for a touched behind. Otis laid a tackle and then picked up the spillage, and Max B took a good mark. Charles bombed in to hot spot where Lucien presented, won a free kick for a push in the back, and kicked truly. Parkside’s first entry into the fifty was marked by Eddie, but in the same exchange Chas copped a blood nose, and had to leave the field. Parkside rebounded with 2 marks to register a goal one second before the siren blew. The tackle count was good, but the inside 50's: 8 to 2 revealed a failure to capitalise on opportunities.
The umpire was an old aquaintence, and by quarter time the boys knew not to back chat, or to resort to ancient Norse, or nautical terms.
Harris having been substituted late in the previous quarter continued in the ruck. Free kicks to Dan, Harris, and Mike came to nothing. Eddie repelled a Parkside entry, and Gus laid a bump that forced an out of bounds on the full, before Dan’s kick on goal was rushed. Gus exploited confusion at the resulting kick in but his intercept produced a behind. Lucien registered a behind from the following attempt at a clearance. Declan laid a tackle and then picked up, but the chain of passes through Gus, Noah, and Chas was stifled. Liam put in a first and second effort, and then in a later passage of play majored on the end of upfield efforts from Robbie and Dan. From deep in the Parkside attacking zone the ball was conveyed down the far wing by Mike, George, and Gus, to where Jim was awarded a free in the pocket. Shaping up for a shot on goal Jim spotted Dan unattended in the corridor, who ran, sold the dummy on his opponent, and kicked truly.
It had not been the free scoring encounter that Fitzroy may have been hoping for and in the third quarter Parkside turned that to their advantage. Despite notable efforts by Harris, Robbie and Eddie in defence Parkside added a behind followed by a goal. A quick break from the resulting centre bounce added another. Parkside were consistently first for the ball demonstrated by another goal from 2 unconstested marks, that bought the margin back to 4 points! This was not what was in the script. Fitzroy responded with a chain of possessions from Max M, to Gus, Harris, and Declan that was marked by George. His 50 metre shot on goal just carried the upstretched fingers of the defenders. Another forward thrust by Parkside was repelled by a great punch at the back of the pack by Eddie, reminiscent of the flying doormat’s finest. A promising build up by Aiden, Declan, Liam, Max B got the ball to Max M but his shot hit the post.
The statistics at three quarter time revealed an alarming drop off in centre clearances, tackles and inside 50s. The boys needed to refocus.
Parkside were still pressing in the last but were denied by 2 strong marks by Harris at full back. Much of the action took place on the far pocket obscured by the crown of the ground, which made it very difficult to see, including the hand injury to Lucien. An ominous entry into the 50 by Parkside with a run and a 1-2 of handballs was fortunately touched. From the restart Fitzroy swept the ball the length of the ground, where Mike registered a precious goal. A behind followed, and Aiden laid a great tackle to earn a free kick that was marked by Noah and George in turn, but was cleared from the goal square. Another free kick to Aiden for a tackle was relayed through Dan, Aiden (again), and Mike, to George. He kicked into the man on the mark but gathered the loose ball and kicked truly. A final build up by Charles, Noah, Andrej, and Mike was curtailed by the siren.
Compare the quarter by quarter scores with the game against Park Orchards. It would seem to indicate our boys have a problem with complacency at half time, and winning the premiership quarter. The Parkside coach revealed afterwards that they had guessed that the boys would be flat after the previous week’s triumph, and that Parkside saw it as an opportunity to pull off an upset, which they very nearly did!
More danger games on the horizon with games against St Damians and St Marys in the next two weeks, teams with God on their side that always provide a good scrap. Go 'Roys!
"Chicken Smallhorn" (the ghost of Fitzroy past)
Game 14