The Mitcham Junior Football Club teams were involved in Round 6 action over the weekend. The Under 9’s kicked the day off at home and Coach Carlo Fanfulla had this to say in his match report: “It was good to be back at home playing at Walker Park against Donvale. The under 9’s put on a great display of footy this week with a much improved side captained by Luca Orsini and Ryan O’Sullivan. Kicking the first goal for the game created a great buzz of excitement for our home crowd. In a great passage of play, we saw some excellent passing of the football from Oscar, Jordan and Luca who set up that first goal kicked by Charlie Webb. Other goals followed by Sam, Jordan and Ryan. Alexander Fousias played well in the centre with great marking and good clearances. Throughout the game, Rory Hume was also quick on his feet to out run his opponents with attempted shots at goal. I’m really proud of the way the boys played and enjoy watching how much they improve each week. The “Mars play of the day” was awarded to Charlie Webb, Alexi Hopkins and Jacoby Thompson. Well done boys!”
The Under 10’s traveled to the picturesque Eastfeild Park to take on South Croydon. Coach Jason Philactides sent in this match report: “Today we took on an undermanned Sth Croydon. Before the game the Sth Croydon coach said they only had 16 players. I thought it would be a good idea to loan a couple of players each quarter to make the game fair, however as it turned out they didn't need any additional help! The positive was that every player on the ground got to play 4 quarters of football. We were comfortably beaten however if a game were decided on tackle efficiency we would have more wins than losses. Our tackling from all the boys is nothing short or excellent so it's pleasing to see our practice paying off. While footy is a simple game it is very hard to develop the skills required to be competitive week in week out as all kids develop at different stages however with continued practice at training & at home we will improve as a team...regardless of the scoreboard I am happy with our continued development. Well done to Mason & Matteo for being named captains today. Congratulations to Luca & Sasha for receiving the best on ground awards. Their tackling and second efforts were superb!
The Under 11's took on Donvale at Walker Park. With the warm weather keeping the spectators happy and the ground in superb condition the team were ready to put in a big effort. With their "football smarts" on, the team managed to display some good football in the first quarter. While Donvale managed to get their points on the board a little easier, Mitcham scored their first behind thanks to Callum Mead and only trailed by a goal at the first break. The 2nd quarter saw the team go out determined to man up and not be dominated by the Opposition. Ethan Wu & Joel Michaelson put on a good display while Tyler Kenyon displayed great skill in one passage where his shepherding enabled “ball magnet” Jamie Ross to run through. While Donvale were on top for the fist half, the team played a really good third quarter where Lachlan Callander and Lewis McDonough kicked goals. Donvale were too strong in the end though. The Coaching staff would like to thank the parents who stepped up on Friday night with training and again today with team roles - Steve Agius (Assistant Coach) & Mark Ross who helped take training on Friday night and ran the boundary during the weekend game! A special mention also goes to Preston McDonough who kindly offered to run water for his 3 big bro's and their teammates. Thanks Preston!
Final Score: Donvale 8.8.56 d Mitcham 2.1.13
The Under 12's played Glen Waverley Rovers away. Coach Marcus Webb had this to say: “The ground was big and fairly firm - a bit like the practice game at Sorrento and similarly we were soundly beaten on the scoreboard and suffered a steady stream of injuries. Despite that, there was some good football played by all of the boys at different times and some terrific teamwork, particularly bringing the ball out of defense. Michael and Luke B were great around the ground especially after we lost a couple of our running players early on in the game. Jarrod played one of his best games at centre half back and Lincoln was tireless and gutsy as always. Corey made space and provided plenty of drive after quarter time and was all the more effective when his teammates looked for him. Harrison saw a lot of the ball at full back and attacked it well and did some very good kick outs. Kyle worked hard late in the game and Noah and Nick competed hard for the ball when it went forward. With two of our boys reporting to hospital after the game from head knocks, one with a fairly serious concussion, it was hard for everyone to stay positive (including the trainer!), so well done to everyone for sticking with it and giving their best. Most of the scoreboard damage happened after half time when our bench was already depleted, so chin up boys and lets keep working at training. Everyone is hoping for Harry’s speedy return to the football field. Go tigers!”
Final Score GW Rovers 11.10.76 d Mitcham 0.3.3
The Under 14's headed down the highway to take on North Ringwood. Coach Cam Chivers posted this report: “Second game away in as many weeks against a side that had only dropped one game. Losing three guys before the start of the game through minor niggles was tough and made it more important to get more out of the boys. We started better than we did last week and kept up the intensity throughout the game. Midway through the third we had another three players on ice for the game, meaning we had one rotation for the last quarter. Being down by 1 point, I reminded the boys to stick to their structures and believe in what we do as a group. I was super proud of the boys given the physicality of the game and the fact we were bereft of rotations which meant we had to really run ourselves into the ground to come away with one of our better wins in recent memory. We must continue to work hard and keep improving as a group to ensure we maintain our pressure and processes.”
Final Score: Mitcham 7.9.51 d Nth Ringwood 5.5.35
After last week’s physical clash with Ringwood, the Under 17’s were looking forward to returning to the MCG of the East -Walker Park to take on a South Croydon team that was 1 and 4 from its first five starts this year. Assistant coach Matt Schneider said after the game “Perhaps South’s ladder position doesn’t do their team justice as they came to play today and while we had a couple of our mids out, they had a real crack. The pleasing part about our side is that we are having more boys contributing in a variety of positions and today’s victory was no different. We will continue to rotate player’s week in week out and will find out more about some of these lads over the coming weeks.”
Final Score: Mitcham 15.14.104 d Sth Croydon 4.4.28
Thanks to Annette Philactides, Bec Clark & Graham Bradtke for the photos. Hopefully more will be added during the week.
Last Modified on 03/12/2019 08:49