The Senior and Reserves teams played away against Parkside who were sitting 7th on the ladder with a 1-3 record in the Seniors and 8th with a 0-4 record in the Reserves. The U19s travelled to Oakleigh.
Match Reports
The Senior and Reserves teams played away against Parkside who were sitting 7th on the ladder with a 1-3 record in the Seniors and 8th with a 0-4 record in the Reserves. The U19s travelled to Oakleigh.
Seniors
Travelling out to Pitcher Park in Alphington for the first time since Parkside’s readmission to the VAFA in 2015 we were a little unsure what to expect. A goal in the first minute of play to Liam Whelan was a superb start but that was where the scoring pretty much finished for the first half. Despite a 3 goal lead at ¼ time a much tighter second quarter saw us lead by just 6 points at the main break and with only 4 goals on the board.
Kicking with a heavy wind in the third quarter we knew we had to make it count if we were to taster victory. Despite the wind and despite asserting more of ourselves on every contest we were still only able to add 3 goals to the tally and went into the final break leading by just 23 points. We also had zero fit men on the bench after several injuries to key players including coach Ash Naulty with a hamstring. We knew it was going to be tough in the last quarter. Phil Jurkovsky opened the term with an inspirational goal which lifted our spirits and ended Parkside’s. It was a really pleasing final quarter with our backs against the wall. We ultimately kicked 6 for the term and ran out winners 13.15.93 to 6.5.41.
Liam Whelan again kicked 4 goals to take his season tally to 30 in the Seniors plus 8 in the U19’s. Paddy Mahon kicked 3 while Luke Fringuelli kicked 2 in a terrific return to form. Best on ground was Phil Jurkovsky who lead from the middle all day and ably assisted by Alex Guthrie who pinch hit in the ruck after Naulty went down.
Reserves
The Reserves started well with dominance in and around the contest thanks largely to Drew Keltie and Joe Morrison-Story. The mids combined with the half forwards kept pumping the ball in long and direct to key forwards Lachy Naulty, Nick Spencer and Aaron Kinghorn. A 14 scoring shot to 0 first quarter was a dominant start. The second quarter was possibly our worst for the year and incidentally the only quarter the side has lost on the scoreboard. Parkside flooding 2 men back and creating extra numbers at the contest restricted our ball movement. This coincided with some complacency and a refusal to work defensively from the Aquinas boys. This meant the backline were under near constant pressure for the quarter. Despite the poor quarter we still went into the main break leading by 50 points and with the game in hand.
A few quick words from the leaders and coaches recalibrated the mindset for the second half and it was a much better display all around. The 1% efforts were up and so was the defensive running. As a result we managed to kick 9 goals to 0 for the half and ran out comfortable winners 20.23.143 to 4.4.28. Best players were Will Morrison with 5 goals and relentless intensity and Drew Keltie who exerted his size and strength in the middle. It was also a brilliant return to form from James Reid with 4 goals and Jack Price on the wing with 3 goals.
Under 19s
The U19s came up against Oakleigh at Oakleigh. Despite Oakleigh having beaten St Bede’s Mentone last week, who had in turn thumped us by 140 points we went into the game hoping for the best. Skipper Michael Di Donato again led from the front with a best on ground display. We had 3 more scoring shots than the opposition before ultimately falling short by 7 points.