18 April saw 4 of the 5 teams return to Weldon for the first time this season. The days also saw the old, bold and somewhat slower battle out another round of the Weldon Challenge.
The Weldon Challenge is a competition of reduced level competition, played by former players and some who have not been selected for the current round of matches. Run by Tim Stone and Paul Bourke it engenders much of what is good about footy on the beaches, serious enough to have the players making an effort … not so serious that the ambulance needs to be called. To all well done on another entertaining battle where sledging and tight hamstrings were the winner on the day.
Div 4 saw the lads chasing their first win of the season and looking like a well-oiled machine. Facing Camden the local lads appeared to make the long drive back to Camden one filled with sadness at a loss. So it was to transpire, in a hard fought game the GIANTS had the edge from the first quarter and did not allow Camden back into the game. The Div four team was supplemented by the return of long lost beaches boy Michael Stapleton who after years away playing political mover and shaker was back following his brothers to the Club. While he was moving like a person who had been hit with a cricket bat by the end of the day some glimmer of past talent was apparent. Aaron Blake was also a welcome addition to the team and proved dangerous around goals. His potential is being enhanced by additional work with the womens team. As for the other dominant players it was largely the same group with Hurley, Reid, and Gallo scoring and winning their positions. Defence was a strong and did an excellent job limiting Camden to six goals. A special word to Phil ‘Junior Burger’ Prior who returned from a brisk walk through the mountains of PNG to have a run with the team.
Div 2 was facing an old adversary, not just in Camden but also with Chris Hughes as the new coach. Hughes had been a past coach at Weldon and as he observed post game; it has not been a happy hunting ground for him when he coached us or when he has coached against us. Camden are a physical team and they applied plenty of physical pressure. They showed glimpses of really good ball movement but in the end the weight of possession and the speed and ball use by Razzle’s boys was better. The combinations are developing and despite losing Jimi to an injury early in the game the man management, structures and rotation was excellent. This group clearly has a number of players knocking on the door of senior selection particularly Kelly, and Burke and Atkinson. The back half was wonderful and bounced back those attacks that made it through the middle of the ground. With players still to return to the playing list, it is very likely absent a huge injury toll that the ressies could be facing another year of playing in September. There is also some talk that Razzle will not be the leading goal scorer (he was seen to hand ball a couple on Saturday), we will see how that pans out by mid season.
The Seniors faced long time rivals and fantastic competitors in Pennant Hills. While we have been able to take the chocolates in recent encounters, save a blow out early last season they have all been close. So it was again, this time with the GIANTS falling short by just 7 points. It is likely we have now faced the two toughest teams in the competition, though we will not know this with certainty for many weeks. We do know that being even a few percentage points from top form is dangerous in the current competition. While the score was close, the reality was that Pennant Hills generated 7 more scoring shots. Overall a cracking game, hard and fast, with both teams turning on the pressure and generating turnovers. While there is no need to panic, the Club is for the first time in many years able to look at the Ressies and see a number of players fighting for a chance to get a run.
LEFT: Wills Brasil flies in the ruck
The Under 19s came off a great win last week against the Eagles and faced the Penno boys. Where in previous season the lads have enjoyed the tighter and smaller grounds such as Weldon where they could crash, bash and control play it may be that the outside run needed for a larger ground suits the current group. Again the team was bolstered by several under 17s, who while quieter than last week were not disgraced. With a ruckman and Deano; our skipper still in, the contest would have been closer but we still have plenty to work on; two players do not a team make. We looked a little slow to react and slow to move the ball, again, it seemed mental preparation was against us more so than desire to contest the footy. We found a hard nosed half back in Hayden Banks a new player from Wagga Wagga (a town so good they named it twice) and our most consistent player in the last 3 years Burkey was at his awesome best carrying the side in the ruck and around the ground. We were also happy to see the never say die last quarter with our senior list stepping up the pressure until the final siren. We know what we need to work on, we know we need a ruckman, we are also confident that that we look to put pressure on the top four and get our full list fit and on the pitch we will be very competitive.
The women got to have a run around on Sunday at Rosedale Park, a lovely facility, which felt like it was located near Adelaide. This was the first game for the team, who had been shown our deficiencies in the practice games against Div 1 teams. The girls had 22 players, and hope in their hearts. Our opponents had a full team but were light on the bench and the theory was by frequent rotation we could run them off their legs. Unfortunately one player did not make it to the game (we are now 21), Mikki Bate had a knee injury in the first quarter (we are now 20) and Rebecca Rawle had to attend a wedding and left for a long drive at ½ time (we are now 19). The brave 19 played on, some were a little sore but none were sorry. Some good patches of play created opportunities to score heavily and we poured on the behinds, kicking 13 for the match and missing some shots from inside 10 metres. However, the game was ours, not because of goal kicking but because of pressure and tackling. The tackle count must have been close to 2 to 1 in our favour. Ball use was OK endeavour was great, some players ran until their legs were jelly. A great first up win and the song was hummed, mimed etc with gusto. Special thanks to Andrew Peterkin who carried both the messages and the tune. A true team effort, half back line was great, Kel was everywhere and not a player let us down.
Conclusion
The Club is 3:2 on the weekend, we know how to improve and there is plenty of room for that. Endeavour was good, it is generally polish and system that needs to be tuned and applied. Season 2015 is alive and kicking, let us get as many supporters out to the matches this weekend as we celebrate footy on ANZAC Day.
Last Modified on 21/04/2015 13:11