Coaching Positions

06 Jun Round 8 Coaches Match Reports

Posted at 19:25h in Latest news, Uncategorized by
0 Likes

Ticked over the half way mark of season proper now and into the first bye round this week as we break for the kings birthday break.

Still plenty on in a footy sense, with Round 2 and 3 of the NFNL Rep Carnival taking place over the long weekend.   Despite a few injuries, we still have quite a few of our kids representing our Club at Rep level so be sure to keep an eye on the Socials if you’re staying local and wanting your Footy fix over the long weekend.
After that we have a generous run home with a three week block of footy before another bye over the school holidays then into the final stretch of games before finals.  The remainder of the fixtures are now out, so please check those for your planning moving forward.

Plenty of great stuff out of the Rd8 games, a few of the highlights;

  •  Our girls program continue to go from strength to strength.  Headlined by big wins by the 14s, 16s and a huge performance from the 18s
  • A day out for Ally Pilakis in her 50th outing, booting another big bag of goals.
  • Club favourite Harry Dorman and his BOG in the 13s keeping the Comps leading goal kicker goalless.
  • Romeo and Linc from the 15s playing almost 4 straight hours of footy across two very tough games.

 

Boys Under 11

SCORES – RESEARCH 3-4-22   MERNDA 2-2-14

GOALS – Cayden 2, Jack 1

The match was very much a hard-fought contest for 4 quarters against a very well drilled and disciplined Mernda side. The 9am start, fog-impaired sunshine, no wind, and a cold Saturday night led to quite damp and slippery conditions for Sunday morning which remained with us for the entirety of the contest. We struggled to break away at any stage and full credit must go to both teams for showing their commitment and slogging it out right to the very end. In a low scoring game, we were able to just keep our nose in front. Three cheers went to Mernda and our umpire before our boys headed upstairs and sang our club song with gusto.

Some player highlights:

  • Cameron played an outstanding match. Intelligent, strong, and unselfish teamplay all game and absolutely nailed his given role on Sunday. His versatility will be a huge factor for us moving forward. Thanks Cameron (Grill’d award)
  • Miles is our rock. Whenever we are under pressure, Miles is the first in the trenches battling it out for his teammates. One of only a few to have kicking penetration in the conditions. Terrific again Miles. Thanks mate
  • Hunter stood up when it counted and took some telling marks all around the ground. His ruck work is the best I’ve seen by any player at this age level. A genuine athlete who also randomly adds his much-loved humour to our group. Great stuff Hunter
  • Jude, in his first match of footy (AFL footy), had a significant impact on the outcome and stood out as being a step ahead in terms of reading the play and bringing other Searchers into the game. An incredible performance when you think about it with such difficult conditions and a robust opposition. Thanks Jude – what a pickup for RJFC – and thanks Belinda and Steve for your flexibility with other sporting rosters
  • Hayden is showing our group how all his hard work at training and at home is making big inroads to his matchday output and enjoyment. Some solid play around the contests at both ends of the ground. Always smiling and a vital member of our team. Thanks Haydos
  • Gus’ contribution (the more I think about it) was of great importance as he was able to adapt from his new CHF game style to a game style to suit the conditions on the day (this was not even mentioned to him from the coaching group – Gussy just knew). The conditions didn’t favour a huge possession game for anyone yet what Gus was able to give us with his strength and desperation kept us in contests on many occasions whilst not allowing Mernda to rebound the ball easily. We’re proud of you and the way you are working mate. Thank you. (Grill’d award).
  • Karlius again was our Mr Reliable and continues to push himself to the limit at every contest he can get to. He is a wonderful Captain and an inspiration to us all both on and off the field. As always Karlius, thanks and thanks and thanks mate.
  • Chris and family for allowing Ari to play up from our Under 9’s and Ari, of course, for his brave and skilful play – Ari, you were terrific, and we love having you in the team. Thank you

Nonetheless, I know we have some work to do during the back half of the season to ensure we keep improving as a team, and as individuals, both on and off field, and at the same time enjoy and appreciate each other’s company, continue to develop new friendships and keep ourselves open to learning along the way.

I know I’m babbling on (like usual) however I only say this as I really feel we have a unique group of kids here, a fantastic mix of different ages, personalities and match experience, who are continuing to improve and develop at a rate much faster than we initially anticipated and could be, in fact, starting to rise once more to another level (watch this space) – not just in the footy sense, as mates as well. They could potentially be together for many enjoyable and rewarding years ahead.

Anyway, as always, a big thank you to our amazing crew. Thanks to Gabbi for the oranges this week (quality ingredients combined with precision cutting – superb Gabbi). And a huge high five for our match day champions – thank you everyone.

Love your footy.

Rolly

 

Boys Under 13

I would like to start with a congratulations to Aston on reaching 50 games. He came to the
club this year after playing with Eltham and has fitted in nicely with the group. After a tough
start with a concussion and being part of some big losses his footy has improved each week.

This week we faced the second longest away trip with the drive to Wallan. It was the second
day of winter and boy did we feel it facing a cold wind and temperature not reaching double
figures.

Wallan are the top team and haven’t lost a game all year also winning every game by more
than 10 goals. We started the game against the wind and I was rapt with how we played
keeping them to 4 goals for the quarter with each goal coming from kicks that flew over the
back due to the wind which it hard to stop in those conditions. We even scored a goal
ourselves and to be fair probably should have kicked a couple more.

The second quarter kicking with the wind pretty much lived in our front half. We kicked a
couple and once again probably should have kicked a couple more which has been the story
of our year. The third we performed well against the wind keeping them just to 3 goals and
really scrapped and fought defending and I was pretty happy considering all factors to go
into three quarter time 6 goals down against the top team.

Unfortunately, the last quarter I reckon we ran out of legs and even kicking with the wind the
ball lived in their front half for most of the quarter with Wallan kicking a couple of goals. Once
again like the rest of the season the team didn’t drop their heads and they fought out the
quarter and ended up winning the last quarter and keeping the margin to under 6 goals.
Super proud of the team and mark my words we are building, and we are getting better each
week

Some personal highlights from me.

  • Kai and Booger (couldn’t split them) – They were huge all day and worked hard all day.
    Especially with the dirty stuff off the ball from Wallan. It was the worse game to cop that and
    not only not retaliate but to have the games they did show the character of both of them.
  • Joao – bobbing up and kicking 3. In the right place at the right time and snagged a few. Very
    smart footballer.
  • Harry D – We have found our full back. Harry competed and does not want his opponent to
    win the ball. The perfect full back. Best game of the season Harry D! A very proud coach!
  • The backline – Were huge awesome all day and fought all day under huge pressure. I was
    super impressed. It has been a tough year for our backline but each week they seem to be
    getting better.

I will say it again, but I really feel this team has a lot of improvement still in it and results will
start going our way. Keeping on working hard!!

 

Boys Under 14

Epping 3.7 25 v Research 3.3 21

Our second trip to Epping for the season.
With Epping sitting second on the ladder and us third. And after our last encounter you knew it was going to be a close game.
Epping flew out of the blocks with a couple of quick goals. The signs weren’t looking great from the boys. Second to the footy, missing tackles and a lack of run. All the things we have been good at this year.
But as I’ve come to expect the team switched on with about five minutes left in the quarter. We hit back with couple of goals of our own to even the scores at quarter time. The second quarter was just an absolute arm wrestle. And full of carnage. We lost Rav to a nasty concussion which was a really disappointing event in my eyes. He was flattened by a much bigger opponent and it was also late. A duty of care from the umpires should have been applied to this situation. No free kick, no card or send off. The reason given to us from the umpires was that we are a smaller team than them. Not good enough in my opinion. Tom J hurt his shoulder and came off and Cadel was concussed as well from a really brave attack on the ball.
Tom J bravely came back on (with a dislocated shoulder and chipped bone) in the third in a show of maturity and a willing to win at all costs. The next two quarters where basically played between each team’s half back lines. Neither of us could break through and open the game up. Epping probably had a few more chances than us to score but our backline was just awesome all day. Epping are a big side with some really decent footballers. I’m constantly amazed how our team just never gives up.
Unfortunately for the second time this season we fell short by less than a goal. We definitely had our chance’s to win.
Super proud of the boys and the way they responded after losing a couple of team mates.
Highlights.
  • Harvey K another super game down back.
  • Bailey back to his best.
  • Tom J playing hurt and still influencing the game.
  • Jake M with his tireless running.
  • Palmo running riot on the wing all day.
  • Ace’s last quarter was huge down back with Henry as well.
  • Brodie playing two quarters in ruck was a sensational effort.
Nice to have the week off to recharge, and hit the second half of the season hard.
Dan.

 

 

Boys Under 15

RJFC 5-4-34. Defeated by Mernda 13-14-92
Sometimes the result is not that reflective of a teams performance and that was certainly the case in this one.   While The scoreboard did not look that favourable for the Searchers,  the effort and attitude remained where we want it and in patches we played some excellent footy.    Just got to find that consistency across four quarters by remaining committed to our game plan for longer – proof is there that when we play our style we carve teams up and are very difficult to defend.
Great performance from our backline this week, led by Jordy, Rowlsey and Adzy.   Zac was again proving dangerous in the front half with Max also adding some forward craft to his growing list of tricks.  Haydos continued on with his great form, going head to head with a very good player and splitting the points.   New to footy, Harry and Charlie continue to impress and you can see that confidence growing contest by contest.   It’s been tough going for our forwards this season, but the aerial work by Thommo and Blakey and the ground level stuff by Coop and Ozzy is giving us great bang for buck when we do go inside 50, scoring almost every time we go in.
What has been a constant is the positivity out of this group.  Their all great mates are very connected to each other.   That recipe will continue to translate to on-field and the results will come.     Still in the hunt and who knows what’s to come for this group.
Special mention to Linc and Romeo who doubled up to help out the 17s after our game.  Four straight hours of footy and playing two age groups up is a huge effort.

 

Girls Under 18s

Research 19.15 129 d Whittlesea 2.1 13
Best Players: The whole Team (Hardest game ever for coaching votes)
Goal Kickers: Ally Pilakis 5, Sierra Filippone, Scarlett Fitzpatrick 3, Matilda Raphael, Grace Wright 2 and Finley Bell, Anayah Maher, Charli Reading and Bella Turner 1
A rest from Wednesday night training last week many of the girls went to support two of our under 16’s Ayva and Amy in the Metro Carvinal at Coventry. After the game about 40 Researchers players and parents crammed in at the Diamond Creek pub for dinner and some great bonding for the team.
Sunday we ran out in our indigenous jumpers against the dark blue of Whittlesea.
The day started with us celebrating Ally Pilakis on her 50 games. Enjoying the celebrations Ally kicked another haul of 5 goals to lead the comp with 22.
Emmy Graziano played her first game for us back from Calder Cannons during their break and stared with a best on ground performance.
We introduced another new player Charli Reading a friend a Katelyn’s and former team mate at Mill Park. Charli started well for her new club kicking a goal and setting up many more forward attacks.
The whole day was awesome to watch for us, we clicked in so many areas. Goal umpire Adam Bell has a sore shoulder from waiving the flag so much as we piled on 34 scoring shots.
Once again our contested ball was huge and we won majority of clearances. Our focus was getting chains of uncontested possessions and to work on the spread. Big Tick.
Girls we can enjoy a break and reset for the top of the table clash with Diamond Creek after the Long Weekend.

 

Boys Under 17.5

Research 8.7.55 def by Sth Morang 18.10.118

Goals: Riley Kerr (2), Nathan Bradshaw, Jesse Humphreys, Romeo Palmarini,
Angus Whitford, Angus Robinson, Billy Johnson
Best Players: Billy Johnson, Nathan Bradshaw, Seth O’Malley, Jesse Todd, Jake
McCormack, Kale Bollenhagen

We spoke before the game about what we could control and what we couldn’t control. For the team that ran out on the ground on Sunday, what we couldn’t control were that we had 10 injured team-mates who could not be with them on the ground to help them. We couldn’t control the expectations that many had that it was going to be a tough day. What we could control was what sort of attitude, effort and concentration we gave to the game regardless of these circumstances and that we just enjoyed our footy, had some fun and brought some joy to the day.

Despite being overwhelmingly undermanned against a good opponent, we couldn’t ask any more of our boys on Sunday. The game was played in great spirits by both teams, a change from some of the experiences we have had in recent weeks from our various opponents. South Morang got off to a strong start and took the game away really by half time. We had 17 available players and gave away significant size and without a bench for the day. We were grateful to Romeo Palmarini and Lincoln Johnston for coming up from the Under 15’s to play with us. Both boys were brave, showed some great skills
and composure in the higher age group and it was a real highlight of the day to see them play well.
We encouraged our boys to continue to persist with things that are important to the team, but which will make them better players. We encouraged them to switch the footy to open up the game, to react quickly when the ball transitions both offensively and defensively, to try and control possession more, especially when it was a day we were going to struggle with contested footy.

We had no shortage of players helping with stats and pleasingly we matched Sth Morang for centre clearances, overall stoppages and our tackle count was up again. Where the opposition was able to hurt us were on rebounds from our forward line and scoring from turnovers. These were the main factors on the scoreboard otherwise we matched the game for good periods and had some good passages of
play.

It was pleasing to have the boys adapt to new instructions and to try some new things. Injuries also give some players the chance to be in the game for longer and to play in positions which they might not normally play. Jesse Todd played well in the Ruck as an example.

A break over the long weekend will help us and we should get quite a number of players back in the next match vs Montmorency. I remain convinced that a great result is not far away if we can put four quarters together and have players available. We just keep encouraging our players to train hard and well, keep willing to learn and bring a great attitude. All three of these things are things they do consistently so
we keep aiming to improve in this high standard of footy, enjoy the experience and we look forward to the second half of the year coming up.

Paul and the Coaches