19 Jun Round 9 Coaches Match Reports
Back from the bye and largely a great day for our Club. Some fantastic performances both home and away and some special milestones to some club favourites.
Some highlights over the weekend:
- U16 and U18 girls big winners again ! Big bags of goals to Ayva, Sienna and Ally
- U13 boys back on the winners list with a great team performance against Mont.
- U12 girls knocking off the ladder leaders Eltham, with Zara kicking her first ever goal.
- U14 girls courageous effort – lead by the pocket rocket, Bonnie, they very nearly knocked off the top placed Monty.
- An undermanned u14 boys come from behind win up at Laurimar – Palmo with the sealer.
- U10 girls kicking the dew off Research Park in style on a crisp Sunday Morning. Big win, improving every week and loving their footy – what more can you ask for
Girls Under 10
This round we had home game at Research Park a nice 9.00am start with glorious sunshine.
We were up against Darebin a team we have played a couple of times and who have beaten us on both occasions by about 4-5 goals.
Our Captain for the day was Matisse who over the last few weeks has been getting more and more involved in the play!
The first half we started a little bit slowly with both teams finding it hard to score, but it was a great contest with some great tackles being put on by our ferocious girls holding Darebin to just two points. A great effort by everyone!
The first half we started a little bit slowly with both teams finding it hard to score, but it was a great contest with some great tackles being put on by our ferocious girls holding Darebin to just two points. A great effort by everyone!
The second half was a different story not sure what was in the oranges but our girls were amazing playing our best quarter for the season. The tackling the handballs the kicks the marking and of course all of the goals. Our mighty under 10 girls played at a level I hadn’t seen before. Abby Eadie and Lilian all kicking goals and giving us a three goal lead. The fourth quarter was just as good as the third rounding out a perfect half of footy. Mia kicking a goal giving us a 25-3 win our first against Darebin a truly great performance from our youngest Research team the mighty under 10 girls our second win for the season!
Well done girls great effort.
Special shout out to Eadie and Abby for winning the medals on the day.
Eadie has been very consistent over the season and today was saving goals and kicking goals and didn’t stop getting the footy all day and laid some brutal tackles!
Abby has shown glimpses throughout the season and today played the best game of her short career kicking goals taking marks and also gave the best goal celebration of the season so far. Well done girls on your medals well deserved.
Boys Under 11
Research 2.3.15 defeated by Montmorency white 5.5.35
Goal scorers: Cayden Ralston 2
A windy day saw us playing Monty at home on an oval which seemed like half the size of ours. A few key players out had us playing some kids in unfamiliar roles, and swapping magnets at every change. We scrambled for the first 2 quarters, as Monty used their height well and were harder at the ball all over the ground. Our kids fought hard, but we couldn’t get first use as they decimated our midfield at clearances and stoppage. Their shepherd and block work was impressive. We fired up a bit after half time, keeping Monty to 1 point for the second half. Our ball use and team play was better, and we started to string some passages of play together, but it was an uphill battle to get back into the game. Considering our outs, we kept our heads up and we go back tail between legs and dissect where we can improve.
Special mentions:
- Thanks to Haysey who lent us Ned & Max H, who fought all day against much bigger
opponents. They didn’t back down all day, and continue to impress us when we’re
lucky enough to have them. - Jude down back kept things honest all day. He’s a great addition for our team with
his footy smarts and skills. - Cayden with 2 goals. Got beaten up all day but kept fighting and kept us in the game.
- Charlie brought some biff with his tackling and bumping.
- Miles and Max M were again rocks on the wing
- Josh back after illness kept running all day.
- Hudson played his best game to date with a tagging role that nullified his opponent for most of the day.
- Cameron and Ashton filling in the ruck role were solid against much bigger bodies.
We learn from this and then come back home next week against Whittlesea.
As always, thanks to all the helpers on and off the field.
Brad.
Boys Under 14
Laurimar 3.7 25 v Research 4.7 31
This match up is always a testing one, especially at Laurimar. And this game was no exception.
After a week off we started really slow. The ball lived in their forward half for most of the quarter. They peppered the goals but fortunately for us they where mostly tough shots at goal. They kicked 1.6 for the quarter with a few rushed through. With a couple of minutes left in the quarter we surged forward and scored a late goal to give us some momentum.
The second started off much better for us. We turned our slow start around and managed to get the game on our terms. Kicking two goals to one. I’m still trying to find the right forward line mix as we constantly struggle to score easily. This week I started Baz a CHF. He gave us a target up forward and he finished the game kicking three out of our four goals. Another BOG performance even with a hard tag all day.
The third and forth quarters where an absolute arm wrestle. Some questionable tactics came to a head with scuffles breaking out around the ground. And as per usual the umpire’s where oblivious to all of this including the weekly sling tackles which again claimed a victim. Brodie came off after hitting his head on the ground after a sling tackle. We also lost Ace in the last to a twisted knee.
The boys never gave up as per usual. They ran themselves into the ground. And that’s all I ask of them to come off the ground having given their all.
Super proud of this team. Every week we get challenged with much bigger opponents than us. Every week we seem to lose a teammate or two with injury. I ask a lot of them to play different roles from week to week. Never a backwards step from any of them.
Highlights:
- Harvey K again played a super game down back. Without Tom J now for an extended period Harvey will have to shoulder more responsibility.
- Lach at FB played his best game for the year. He’s getting more physical each week and growing in confidence.
- Ned back to his physical best. Head over the ball taking the game on.
- Palmo continues to get his hands on the ball. Burning off opponents week after week on the wing. Kicked the winning check side in the last as well.
Go searchers.
Dan.
Boys Under 15
RJFC 6-2-32 defeated by HJFC 13-9-87
Goals – Blake 2, Charlie 1, Harry 1, Zac 1, Coop 1
Best – Haydos, Linc, Charlie, Romeo, Jord, Toby, Thommo.
Fresh off the bye and a good block of training during the break, unfortunately this is one we probably wish we could take back.
Hurstbridge are in a similar position to us and play a similar brand of footy, but they just stuck to their task better than we did. Our effort was there for the most part but other areas of our game that are super important dropped off and we handed them the ball back far too often.
Still plenty of positives to come out of the game. Finding new avenues to goal is always important and it was pleasing to seen Harry on the end of one after a couple of solid weeks of getting into the right spots. Coop also got some rewards for his consistent efforts, he was able to make the most of his opportunities and at times looked our most dangerous forward. Blakey put in a huge amount of work during the break and was excellent all game at both ends – first as the key forward we know, but then later in the game across half back, intercepting plenty of their entries.
But the highlight and our ‘Kuzina’ player of the day was Charlie Skerritt . In the absence of Mitch, Charlie chucked his hand up to ruck and did a fantastic job. In just his 9th game of footy he went head to head with the Leagues Rep ruckman and absolutely took it to him. He kicked an early goal and more than broke even in the aerial work. Charlie’s improvement over the first half of the season has been one of our big wins so far!
Back to the drawing board for us. With a small pool of teams in our division, our season remains alive and things can shift quickly so we’ll stay positive and focus on finding that consistency in our performance.
Milestone mention to Thommo for his 100th and Ozzy for his 50th.
Thommo is our spiritual leader and one player that is first picked when your putting your list together in the preseason. His energy is infectious and he is never not smiling. Loves his teammates and his footy club and has become a reliable contributor to our team. Has the ability to rip a game apart with a huge mark or crucial goal. As cheeky as the come but just a bloody good kid – Congrats Thommo !
Ozzy is one of our OGs from this group and another team favourite. He is one of the cleanest players you will see and rarely makes a mistake, Wether below the knees or in the air, Ozzy is a ‘one touch’ player and has silky skills. As shown on Sunday, can play at both ends of the ground, can take a hanger and definitely knows where the big sticks are. Well done Oz.
Girls Under 16
Goals: Ayva 5, Sienna 4, Addy 2, Somma 1,Molly 1
Today the under 16 girls were at home to Mernda and it was a special day for one of our players our Captain our fearless leader Sienna Bandera. She was playing her 100th game a truly great achievement.
Sienna started playing her footy at the age of just 6 in the under 12’s with her two sisters at Eltham. Sienna is in her fourth season with Research, she has won numerous awards along the way including three best and fairest awards a second best and fairest and has also made the Yarra league rep squad and was made V.C of that team.
Sienna is our Captain a great and inspirational leader who always puts the team first is courageous and very skillfull with her marking and kicking and is a great goal kicker. We are very lucky to have her in our team here at Research. Well Done Sienna 100 amazing games!
It was also a special day as we invited the under 10 girls to be the under 16 girls buddies for the day as our special guests. They came into the rooms before the game joined in the warm up and enjoyed a hot dog during the game and got to line up and cheer Sienna through her 100 game banner.
It was also an important game for us to consolidate our spot at the top of the ladder. We got off to a flying start kicking the first five goals of the game and never looked back increasing our lead each quarter to run out 87-15 winners.
Each week I feel like we are getting better and everyone is improving both individually and also us as a team. Great effort girls and thanks to the under 10 girls for coming along and supporting the under 16 girls for the afternoon I hope you all enjoyed the day and singing the song at the end of the game.
Girls Under 18
Research 11.11 77 d Diamond Creek Women’s 3.2 20
Best Players: The team again Special mention Katelyn 33 disposals and Alli 26 with 10 tackles.
Goal Kickers: Ally Pilakis 5, Anayah Maher 2, Abi Flenley, Alli Allen, Bella Turner and Sierra Filippone 1
Our group enjoyed the week off to refresh and focus on the top of the table clash with Diamond Creek Women’s this week.
A trip up to Plenty Park in the past has always been a difficult task but from the training track the girls have shown they are up to all challenges.
From the start the girls where on and all players where absolutely ready for everything.
The inclusion of Katelyn Busuttil back from Knights duties for her first game of the year with Research bolstered our already stacked midfield. Katelyn is the ultimate professional and trains as hard as anyone always striving to be better.
Her class shone out on the day getting plenty of inside ball, but was also running the lines and kicking the ball long into our forward line.
In a really competitive game our players where all having near best games. Fin and Scarlett H found plenty of disciplined outside ball. A real focus at training is the switch and going around congestion.
Abigail strong front half pressure opened up plenty of scoring opportunities for our forwards and also hitting the scoreboard herself.
Alli, Tess and Tilly had 60 between them with dash and great skill.
The backs more than solid again and the defensive pressure across the ground letting DCW only to have 2 scoring shots until the mercy rule kicked in the last Qrt.
Sophia and Macka (first game back from broken foot) solid deep, while Charlotte and Holli competed well in the ruck and then deep back.
Our small utilities in Bella and Sierra where all over the ground up at the back 50 and kicking goals when forward. Anayah strong as always playing more fwd this week kicking 2.
Our new player Charli has fitted in with two great rounds of football, great footy knowledge and awareness on the ground.
All this great play allows Ally the opportunity to do her thing and go to work kicking another 5 goals this week.
Thanks to Ayva who got the call up only an hour before the game, always fits in well anywhere she plays on the ground.