Hi All,
It was great to head to Monbulk on Saturday and pick up all 7 wins & top spot on the YVMDFL ladder in the seniors with some great performances by the boys & girls of the club on the day.
The netball girls were far to skilled for the opposition and won all 4 games comfortably but the A grade girls dominated the opposition to win by over 60 goals in a display that had to be seen. At the first change we lead 23 to 0, something I’ve not seen at that level of netball before, the boys had 3 great wins, it was good to see the Under 18 boys get back in the winner’s circle, the reserves had a convincing win against an undermanned Monbulk to move back into the top 5 and keep their finals hopes alive & the seniors hit the ground running in the game for top spot and Monbulk didn’t know what had hit them in wet & wintery conditions as we moved to the top of the ladder with 4 rounds remaining, but by no means is the job done its only just began as we head towards another finals series in 2014.
It started raining around lunch time and didn’t stop for the rest of the day, so by the time the game started the ground had become very wet and slippery on the surface, to our boys credit they hit the ground running & Monbulk after kicking the first goal of the game didn’t know what had hit the as we raced to a 38 point lead by the first change leading 7 5 = 47 to Monbulk’s 1 3 = 9, the Monbulk coach was very vocal at the first change, our huddle although very pleased with the effort asked the boys to keep working on the lead as you could tell that as the ball got heavier goals would be at a premium in the second half of the game & that they did adding another 3 goals to 1 to move out to a 53 point lead, it was great to see Kire Talevski producing his best half of footy for the year kicking 5 first half goals to see us lead 10 9 = 69 to Monbulk 2 4 = 16, there was only 5 goals kicked for the second half and Monbulk outscored us by 2 points for the half, but that flattered our opponents slightly, but for some inaccurate kicking we could have won by a lot more kicking 2 goals 10 to Monbulk’s 3 goals 6 to run out easy winners 12 19 = 91 to Monbulk 5 10 = 40 in a great display to take us to the top of the ladder.
Goal kickers were Kire Talevski with 6, Simon Young with 2, and singles to Ryan Wilson, Brendan Dickinson, Hans Dudink, & Jimmy Messis, and our best players were Jimmy Messis, Justin Myers & Jarrod Bayliss in the midfield gave us first use when the game had to be won, Kire Talevski & Simon Young were marking the ball like it was a dry day up forward, Hans Dudink & Josh Shaw were great on the wings and Evan Hocking & Robbie Ross led the defence well all day & I’d like to give a special mention to Nick Handley playing his 50th game for the club and held former AFL start Russell Robertson goalless on the day.
We're at home to Upwey this Saturday in another battle for top spot with Upwey being second on the ladder, so make the time to come for a look in what should be a great game at the kennel as Jarrod and the boys try to consolidate top spot and the double chance with finals only 4 weeks away.
The Reserves game looked in doubt at around 11.45AM with Monbulk only having around 12 players, but they got a number of their Under 18’s to fill in and our boys got the chance to show their wears and deliver a convincing, percentage building win in the wet, it was great to have Gary Sheppard back from overseas & Jack Bayliss playing his first game in 9 weeks back from injury as we build towards a spot in the top 5, but their destiny is in their owns hands as they play the top 3 sides in the last 4 weeks, we dominated the game from the first quarter with 6 goals in the first, 7 in the second, 6 in the third and 5 in the last to be runaway winners 24 12 = 156 to Monbulk 3 2 = 20, Gary Sheppard led the scorers with 8 goals in a great comeback, Brendan Morris was good with 5, Joe Napoleone, Matt McKenzie & Matt Lang added 2 each and singles to Jack Bayliss, Chris Foley, Chris Fowkes, Alex Wisby, Liam McGookin and not surprisingly best players were Gary Sheppard, Brenton Morris up forward, in the midfield Joe Napoleone, Peter Harris, Jack Bayliss & Chris Fowkes were in every contest on the day & Troy Adamson & Ryan Voges were solid in the back half whenever the ball got down their end of the ground, they play top side Upwey this week who have only lost one game for the year so the boys will need to be at their best to consolidate their spot in the top 5.
The Under 18’s have been under the pump over the last 4 to 6 weeks so it was great to see them jump out of the blocks and race to a 23 point lead by the first change leading 4 5 = 29 to Monbulk 1 0 = 6, showing good skills in the wet conditions and controlling the game, Leigh asked the boys for a continued effort and not take their foot of the accelerator & that they did holding Monbulk goalless in the 2nd & 3rd quarter while adding another 4 goals themselves to have a match winning lead by the last change leading 8 7 = 55 to Monbulk’s 1 5 = 11, it was 2 goals each in the last quarter and credit to the Monbulk boys who didn’t give up at any stage but we eventually ran out convincing winner 10 8 = 68 to Monbulk 3 8 = 26, goal kickers were captain Jake “The Snake” Iedema with 4, with singles to Josh McPhee, Luke Voges, Josh James, Jaydon Barker, Eddie Johnson & Cory Shalevski, best players were Jake Iedema, Luke Voges again who is having a great year at either end of the ground, Josh James, Tom Leech Hines, Andre Napoleone and Lachlan Jones in defence was solid all day for the team.
As I said earlier it’s another battle for top spot in both the seniors & A grade netball this weekend as we take on Upwey at home, so get there to support both the boys and the girls as we build towards an exciting September for all involved at the club. Hope to see you all there on the day.
Regards
Rob Bayliss
Last Modified on 17/04/2015 11:54