Four wins out of six games on the weekend with 1st grade have strong win over the dangerous Eastlake. Adam Garrett in his first year of coaching has the 2nd grade side undefeated and getting great performances out of a very young group of players.
1st Grade – Belconnen Magpies beat Eastlake 97 to 78
Kick straight & win games. Eastlake showed they are a force to be reckoned with (even though they are presently last on the AFL Canberra ladder) with a defiant effort at Manuka oval on Saturday. BMFC applied the pressure throughout a spirited opening quarter and found multiple avenues to goal and looked as though we would run away with a large win. However Eastlake applied the brakes in the second quarter and then started turning the screws in the 3rd quarter kicking 6 goals to 3. Eastlake lifted themselves off the canvas and put themselves in sight of victory similar to what they had achieved against Ainslie in round 2. When they marked and goaled twice in the first few minutes of the last quarter their fans were on their feet, and they closed within 1 point. However that margin was never in the red for the Belconnen boys, and Eastlake had used up all of its running trying to get in front. Steadying goals from R. Turnbull on the run, and L. Jeffery steadied the ship and allowed BMFC to skip away and run out eventual winners. Josh Jennings, who has been another long serving recruit from the Gippsland Valley town of Traralgon played his 100th game for Belconnen. Josh, has never played a reserves game and was Alex Jesaulenko medallist in the 2009 premiership and he thoroughly deserved a win in his 100th game. A very popular member of the club Josh, wife Stacey, and young son Kade understand and embrace the BMFC club and we love them wholeheartedly. Josh was particularly impressed with the way his fellow players with stood the pressure that Eastlake applied and reapplied their own pressure in the last quarter. We now have a bye for the AFL game and we will continue to work hard this week with Sydney in our sights for the weekend after the bye.
2nd Grade – Belconnen Magpies beat Eastlake 83 to 51
The reserves faced Eastlake on Saturday at Manuka and put another impressive win on the board, defeating them 13 5 83 to 7 9 51. The boys had a great first half of footy applying plenty of pressure and reaping the awards on the scoreboard. We had another first gamer come up from the Under 18’s in Rhys Hartwig and he showed that he has plenty of potential. Daniel Posch was strong up forward and finished up with 4 goals. We had plenty of contributors throughout the day which made it hard to distribute the awards. Dean Fair kept his head over the footy all day and won a lot of the contested ball, Rueben Towill gave plenty of options around the forward line with constant movement and a good set of hands and Justin Hodder used his pace on many occasions breaking away from the packs giving us quick ball into or forward 50. All in all a successful day out and now we have completed a full round of the competition we have set ourselves as the benchmark, defeating all the teams.
3rd Grade – Belconnen Magpies beat Ainslie 181 to 25
Two important facets of football are confidence and consistency, if only the 3s could put these two on the paddock every week! In perfect conditions for football, the 3s hosted the tri colours in our first game at Jamo in 2010. The side had undergone many changes to the team that ran out the week before against ADFA, with the seven changes including the veterans Dunn and Egan, and some young guys in Cassamatis and Elwood that had earned their spot after some impressive games in 4s. HR and Reardo also played their first 3s games for the season, and the Captain returned from injury. From the outset the game was dominated by the Pies, the backs restricting Ainslie to 2 goals in the first and 1 in the second quarter, with the new look forward line kicking 6 and 7 in the first two quarters. The midfield was led admirably by Haigh and McDevitt. Collo was determined to get a four quarter effort from his charges and reiterated that if we can apply our game plan then the scoreboard would take care of itself. The second half was probably even more impressive than the first, with the injury toll mounting yet again the bench was non existent by the last quarter. Despite tiring legs, McDevitt and Henry still found a way to gather possession after possession, Powers and Rose shut down any contest that came their way, and a shoot out developed up forward with Axelby (nine goals) and Reardo (eight goals) ensuring that the scoreboard did continue to tick over. Michael “In the beard we trust” Coate was again competitive in the ruck, what Uggy lacks in looks and physique he makes up with footy intelligence, and Buzzy ran hard at everything until he was forced off late in the last quarter with the blood rule.
In all it was a great team effort, but Collo made sure that the team does not get too far ahead of itself with last years premiers and old foe ANU hosting us after the bye next week. Still a bit of work to do with defensive pressure around the ground but certainly a good win after the disappointment of last week. Best wishes to Collo who undergoes surgery on his shoulder this week.
4th Grade – Belconnen Magpies lost to Goulburn 35 to 113
The previously undefeated 4th grade side came up against the reigning premier in the Goulburn Swans in perfect weather at our home ground at Jamison Oval. Due to many injuries and absences over the week there were considerable changes to both 3rd and 4th grade side with the main impact being worn by the 4th grade side. Goulburn were at there typically hard and skillful best and won comprehensively on the day. Rory Markham was the main goalkicker for the Magpies with two goals. Skip Dunn was one of our best and then backed up to play 3rd grade. Best players S Gray, J Duncan, T Hopkinson, J Walker, S Dunn, T Hage.
Under 18’s – Belconnen Magpies beat Eastlake 120 to 54
The u18s had a fantastic win over the Eastlake Demons. 6 players came into the side and injected much needed life into the playing group. Once again Zac Sheather is proving to be major focal point in the forward line kicking another bag of goals and is a player to watch for the future. Dom Duncan had his best game so far and was instrumental in many centre clearances. Tom Madsen once again played a solid game at centre half back and repelled many forward attacks from the Eastlake team. Jordan Harper once again played a solid game up forward and created many scoring assists for our forwards. Daniel Jordan once again played another fine game and is proving hard to stop in our strong marking forward line. The lads have a week off and are already looking forward to the contest against Marist in a fortnight’s time.
Women’s Team – Belconnen Magpies lost to Eastlake 28 to 91
We played Eastlake on a perfect day for football, sunny with no wind. The game started badly with Eastlake winning the first few centre bounces and driving the ball deep into attack. Only resolute defence kept them to 4 goals in the first quarter. The full back line of Amy Jason-Jones, Kylie Kelly and Michaela Costigan read the ball beautifully and were able to stop many attacks. The second quarter was similar to the first with Eastlake winning more contested ball. The game was played almost entirely in Eastlake's forward line. After half time we started to win a bit more ball and were able to go forward more often but our opportunities to kick goals were still limited. The last quarter was quite even but Eastlake kicked late goals to win the quarter. Our half back line were worked tirelessly all day. Allison White, Karina Bailie and Liz Howell all had great games. Clare Gough was the outstanding mid fielder for Belconnen. She kept their best player quiet while picking up many possessions herself. Sophie O'Dea kicked 2 goals and looked dangerous the entire game. We were given a lesson in how to win contested ball. This is something we will have to work on at training if we are going to beat the top sides.
This week’s results brought to you by valued sponsor Monaro Windows.
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Last Modified on 12/05/2010 14:29