Aquinas’ tough start to the season continued on Saturday as we narrowly lost to UHS-VU by 4 points at Great Ryrie Street. Positive signs were all around as we faced our toughest ask of the season to date.
In what was a tight contest all day the lead changed multiple times in the final quarter before a freak goal from the boundary late in the term saw the visiting side ultimately take the chocolates.
Kicking to the scoring end in the first term The Bloods took full advantage slotting 5 goals. The second quarter was quite the opposite with The Vultures midfield gaining the ascendency, they piled on 4 goals to our 2 behinds for the quarter taking a 16 point lead into the half time interval.
Back with the scoring end for the 3rd quarter we managed to kick 4 goals and take a 4 point advantage into the final change. The final quarter was one of the most entertaining quarters in memory as both sides were absolutely unflinching in their attack on the football. Best on ground for Aquinas, Mick Connolly really stood up, taking some fantastic contested marks and kicking a decisive goal with a few minutes to play which sent the Aquinas supporters into raptures after the goal was signaled having originally been called a behind for touched on the line. In the end the clock beat The Bloods as the ball was in our forward half when the siren went much to the relief of the visiting side.
Best players for Aquinas were Mick Connolly with another 30+ possession game, Nick Morrison-Story who played his usual role of setting up play from the half back line and Alex Guthrie at full back. Guthrie’s game was especially meritorious considering he was only called into the side mid morning due to new recruit Jed Belousoff’s clearance from Heathmont failing to come through.
With 10 forced changes from the week before against Albert Park special mention must be made of the 10 players who stepped up to fill the many holes in the senior side. To get within 4 points of a quality side such as UHS-VU with that many changes goes to show the strength of this club when faced with adversity.
Despite the loss we look forward to playing the merged entity that is Glen Eira/Monash Gryphons this week at Packer Park and will be looking to give them their first loss of the season.
Reserves
Unfortunately the Reserves suffered their second consecutive loss going down by 28 points. It was a super effort from the 2s as the Senior side making 10 forced changes from the week before put in jeopardy our ability to even field a side. It was a great credit to the club to be able to put the call out during the week and to field 22 players for the first time this season despite the absences was a fantastic result.
Going into the last quarter just 9 points in arrears we managed to dominate the first 5 minutes of the last quarter but unfortunately were unable to score that crucial goal which may have made the difference. UHS-VU managed a cheap goal and unfortunately we dropped our heads a little bit once this went through, allowing the Vultures to score 3 more for the quarter with apparent ease.
Under 19s
Indisputably the highlight of the day for the club was the maiden win for the Under 19s against MHSOB in the early game. After struggling early this season in a stronger grade it was fantastic to see the boys rally around each other and sing the song with gusto after the victory. By the looks of the video the boys may need to put some practice into learning the words.
An absolutely ripping game of football from the Young Bloods who showed amazing heart to twice come back from a goal down in the final quarter to ultimately win by 6 points. Daniel Foley, Tom Holmes and James Reid all kicked crucially important goals in the last quarter to help seal the win, which will hopefully be the first of many for the boys in Red, Black and Green.
Best players for the day were captain Anthony Dyck and the sensational Jon Kerr through the middle of the ground and Daniel Foley and James Reid up forward who kicked 6 goals between them. Special mention also to Michael Di Donato, Jason Geddes and Tom Holmes who finished with 3 goals.
Go Bloods