Official Match Report
Match Report – vs East Sandringham 4 May 2014
A stiff southerly breeze blew an Antarctic chill across Hurlingham Park for our clash against traditional rivals, East Sandringham. Constant rain and wind meant that the game was going to be a challenge and ball handling would be difficult. Whilst the coaches persisted with their play-on philosophy, the kids were encouraged to handball and avoid bouncing where possible. After a solid warm-up in which the kids became accustomed to the slippery footy, we won the toss and elected to kick against the strong breeze, a decision that would later be proved to be inspired.
As expected, the Zebras seized the opportunity to take advantage of the wind. With their midfield running in numbers they repeatedly got the footy into their forward zone, creating several scoring opportunities. Despite the constant pressure, our backline proved resilient. Eddie Lyon personified the type of effort the coaches had asked of the kids, chasing down his opponent, tackling him and earning a deserved free kick for holding the ball. Jackson was working hard at full back getting the ball into our midfield with some nice kicking from the final line of defence. Jack Fisher too was in the action, racking up several handballs to help ensure that that Zebras didn’t have it all their own way. Luke, Hamish, Cole and Sam Litis all worked hard in the middle but unfortunately our forwards weren’t able to register a score in the quarter and the kids ended up trailing the Zebras by 8 points at the first change.
With the wind at their backs the Vampires lifted their intensity in the second quarter. With Ollie, Jack Travena, Lily and Fabian combining well our midfield started to get on top. Billy Furphy got several centre clearances for the quarter and his burst running saw our forwards given plenty of opportunities to score. Jackson opened the Vampires scoring account with a good goal, having been given a fine handball assist from Archer. With that, the shackles were released with Ben and Sam Heron having several shots on goal. The Vampires didn’t have it all their own though with East Sandy taken the most of their forward entries kicking two straight for the quarter to hold a slender 6 point lead at half time.
The mood at the huddle at half time was upbeat and kids were starting to believe that with continued effort they were on the cusp of a first win for the season. The coaches told the kids kicking goals at the Nepean highway end was definitely possible, as the Zebras had shown. The third quarter was arguably the Vampires best for the year. Ty lead from the front as ruckman winning many tap outs and endlessly applying tackles. His tap outs allowed Taylor, Tom and Billy Maguire to get their hands on the footy and provide our forwards with good delivery. Hughie was running rampant in the middle, getting plenty of the ball and slicing the Zebra’s midfield open with his hard running. The forwards capitalised on our midfield dominance. Luke was proving a handful for the Sandy defence, getting plenty of it and kicking two nice goals. Nick worked hard to pounce on a loose ball to kick his first goal for the Vampires, which saw many teammates rush in to congratulate him. With our great work across the ground it was easy to forget that the Zebras were kicking with the wind. The excellent efforts of our backline, particularly, Billy Furphy, Sam Fry, Ollie and Lily made sure that the Zebras were going to have earn every score. The kids followed instructions, stayed in their allotted positions and repelled several attacks. At 3 quarter time the game was in the balance with the Vampires leading by a solitary point.
The coaches praised the efforts of the kids at the last break, reminding them now that they were kicking with the wind and were playing the superior footy. The kids were fired up and there was a real belief that if they worked hard a win was inevitable - so it proved to be. Following on from the third quarter the kids’ put together some of their best passages of play for the day. Hard running and handballs were the order of the day and the last quarter saw some outstanding passages of play. Hughie, and Sam Match Report – vs East Sandringham 4 May 2014
A stiff southerly breeze blew an Antarctic chill across Hurlingham Park for our clash against traditional rivals, East Sandringham. Constant rain and wind meant that the game was going to be a challenge and ball handling would be difficult. Whilst the coaches persisted with their play-on philosophy, the kids were encouraged to handball and avoid bouncing where possible. After a solid warm-up in which the kids became accustomed to the slippery footy, we won the toss and elected to kick against the strong breeze, a decision that would later be proved to be inspired.
As expected, the Zebras seized the opportunity to take advantage of the wind. With their midfield running in numbers they repeatedly got the footy into their forward zone, creating several scoring opportunities. Despite the constant pressure, our backline proved resilient. Eddie Lyon personified the type of effort the coaches had asked of the kids, chasing down his opponent, tackling him and earning a deserved free kick for holding the ball. Jackson was working hard at full back getting the ball into our midfield with some nice kicking from the final line of defence. Jack Fisher too was in the action, racking up several handballs to help ensure that that Zebras didn’t have it all their own way. Luke, Hamish, Cole and Sam Litis all worked hard in the middle but unfortunately our forwards weren’t able to register a score in the quarter and the kids ended up trailing the Zebras by 8 points at the first change.
With the wind at their backs the Vampires lifted their intensity in the second quarter. With Ollie, Jack Travena, Lily and Fabian combining well our midfield started to get on top. Billy Furphy got several centre clearances for the quarter and his burst running saw our forwards given plenty of opportunities to score. Jackson opened the Vampires scoring account with a good goal, having been given a fine handball assist from Archer. With that, the shackles were released with Ben and Sam Heron having several shots on goal. The Vampires didn’t have it all their own though with East Sandy taken the most of their forward entries kicking two straight for the quarter to hold a slender 6 point lead at half time.
The mood at the huddle at half time was upbeat and kids were starting to believe that with continued effort they were on the cusp of a first win for the season. The coaches told the kids kicking goals at the Nepean highway end was definitely possible, as the Zebras had shown. The third quarter was arguably the Vampires best for the year. Ty lead from the front as ruckman winning many tap outs and endlessly applying tackles. His tap outs allowed Taylor, Tom and Billy Maguire to get their hands on the footy and provide our forwards with good delivery. Hughie was running rampant in the middle, getting plenty of the ball and slicing the Zebra’s midfield open with his hard running. The forwards capitalised on our midfield dominance. Luke was proving a handful for the Sandy defence, getting plenty of it and kicking two nice goals. Nick worked hard to pounce on a loose ball to kick his first goal for the Vampires, which saw many teammates rush in to congratulate him. With our great work across the ground it was easy to forget that the Zebras were kicking with the wind. The excellent efforts of our backline, particularly, Billy Furphy, Sam Fry, Ollie and Lily made sure that the Zebras were going to have earn every score. The kids followed instructions, stayed in their allotted positions and repelled several attacks. At 3 quarter time the game was in the balance with the Vampires leading by a solitary point.
The coaches praised the efforts of the kids at the last break, reminding them now that they were kicking with the wind and were playing the superior footy. The kids were fired up and there was a real belief that if they worked hard a win was inevitable - so it proved to be. Following on from the third quarter the kids’ put together some of their best passages of play for the day. Hard running and handballs were the order of the day and the last quarter saw some outstanding passages of play. Hughie, and Sam
