Official Match Report
Match Report vs East Malvern 18 May 2014
After a week of having their academic skills tested by the NAPLANs there was no respite for the Vampires Under 9 South who were going to be physically tested by a tall and skillful East Malvern team at little Hurly. For the first time the Vampires had the full quota of 24 players on the park and the kids warmly welcomed Ned Kiernan for his first game. There were worrying signs in the warm-up, as the kids, usually so focused before a game, were uncharacteristically distracted. A northerly breeze didn’t appear to favour either end of little Hurly and Malvern won the toss and elected to kick to the Nepean Highway end. As soon as the bell rang the Knights seized upon the Vampires complacency and immediately dominated the centre clearances. Despite the valiant efforts of Ty, Taylor, Jack Fisher, Tom, Sam Litis and Sam Fry in middle, the Knights relentlessly worked the footy into their forward zone. As a result our backs were placed under consistent pressure. In the midst of this onslaught there were some great individual performances down back. Cole applied several tackles and made the Knights’ forwards work for every kick. Archer fearlessly attacked the footy throughout the quarter and Jackson showed fine skill to take some great marks in the defensive half. Sam Heron, Lily and Hamish all tried hard but the Knights were seemingly getting to every contest with numbers and intensity. The Vampires were perhaps a little lucky not to have gone into the first quarter break further behind as the Knights were wasteful in front of goal having kicked 2.7 for the term. The Vampires, sadly, had failed to register a score.
At the break the coaches urged the young Vampires to switch on and lift their intensity and the second term saw the kids lift their work rate. The midfield, all of whom had been on the bench in the first quarter, were refreshed and full of run. Ollie was in the ruck and his deft tap work saw Hughie and Billy Maguire getting the hands on the footy. Ned, Nick and Luke were also contributing around the stoppages in the middle. Despite the improved showing, East Malvern were dominating on the scoreboard, piling on three majors for the quarter to make the Vampires job altogether more difficult. The Knights accurate kicking didn’t properly refelect the efforts of our backline. Korben, Eddie and Fabian closely minded their opponents during the term. Billy Furphy continually harassed the Knight’s forwards with his fierce tackling and hard run from defence. Jack Travena was busy down back too, applying some solid tackles and getting away an important clearing kick. Cole continued on with his hard work in the first with a sustained effort in the second, the fruits of which resulted in Archer kicking his first goal in Vampire colours which was a fitting reward for his play this season. Archer’s goal was our only score of the quarter and the Vampires headed into the main break with a mountian of work to do to get back in the game.
The third quarter was the Vampires best for the game. Billy Furphy moved into the ruck and he contuined to fiercely tackle the Knights midfielders, which resulted in his winning two deserved free kicks for holding the ball. Ben Archibald was terrific playing in the centre, cleverly spoiling a certain East Malvern mark and winning plenty of the footy himself. Sam Litis was providing plenty of spark on a half forward flank – his run and pinpoint accurate passing providing our forwards with plenty of goal scoring oppoirtunites. Taylor was the first to score a goal for the quarter with a beautiful drop punt from a diffciult set shot from a long way out. His goal sparked a run of possession for the Vampires. Sam Fry bobbed up with a great running goal shortly thereafter. Tom followed this up by marking in the goal sqaure and kicking his first for the Vampires to the delight of the spectators. Sam Litis was unlucky not to score a goal himself in the quarter with his best effort going through for a point. At the other end our defence were playing really well. Billy Maguire was a stand-out taking some important marks in the final line of and orchestrating some fine clearance play. The Knights were restricted to a solitary major for the term and we headed into the final break only 14 points behind, with a belief that the deficit could be quickly made up.
The backline and forward lines remained settled for the final term. Jackson in the ruck was giving great service to the industrious Sam Heron, Hamish, Lily and Archer who managed to get the ball into our forward zone on many occasions. It was there that the two Sams, Litis and Fry, had plenty of shots between them, with Sam Fry kicking his second goal during the quarter. Sam’s goal was the team’s only goal for the term with many of our attacks resulting in minor scores. Jack Fisher was excellent in the forward line with his run down tackle resulting is a deserved free kick for holding the ball. At the other end our backline working hard. In what was probably the play of the day Billy Maguire kept working to keep the ball in play with relentless running, his effort eventually resulting in a series of passes clean passes that finished with Jack Fisher who was unfortunately grabbed just as he was about to slot through a goal. Despite this, the Knights forwards were ruthlessly efficient in their forward line kicking four straight goals for the quarter to seal a convincing win.
The coaches praised the efforts of the kids after the game, noting that they had actually beaten East Malvern in the second half. As in other games this year the kids have learned that they need to be switched on from the first bounce in order to be successful in the South division. Next week will doubtlessly see an improved showing.
East Malvern 10.9.69 def East Brighton 5.8.38
Awards
Chicken: Billy Maguire
Pancakes: Archer
Footy: Fabian
Interchange
Q1. Luke, Ollie, Nick, Ned, Hughie, Billy M
Q2. Ty, Sam L, Sam F, Tom, Jack F, Taylor
Q.3 Cole, Lily, Sam H, Hamish, Archer, Jackson
Q.4 Fabian, Ben, Eddie, Billy F, Korben, Jack T