Coaches Report: Under 14 Div 1B Grand Final
“Coming into the game we were quite confident that we will be able to complete with South Metro however it was a grand final and who knows what will happen. Starting the game with three boys on holidays and only an hour before the game losing Tom Rigoni meant we had a very different team to start the game. Especially our back six.
A different pre game routine and the game started with wet and windy conditions, it took a while for our boys to find their feet. The first 15 minutes there were no goals for either team until very late in the Quarter when South Metro got the first go for the game to go in a quarter times six points up.
Losing Alex at quarter time (who played a great 1st quarter) and the back six was very different to the other games however for the remainder of the game they did an amazing job. A few changes of the magnets and positions for some key players had us confident we will get back into the game.
Halfway through the second quarter we started to play our style and got the game on our terms. The boys held their structures and started to protect each other, giving Hugo Birks space across half forward and we managed to kick 3 goals to none and have a 13 point lead at 1/2 time.
The boys were now up and about and we knew the third quarter could set up a win or if we dropped off leave South Metro with some hope of a come back. Although we kicked 10 goals in a quarter a few weeks back, this was our best quarter for the carnival. With Captain Steve Tatsiokas moving into the ruck, Ben Lindeman and Harry Broderick constantly driving the ball our way it allowed “twin towers” Zane Harrington and Angus Perry to dominate the forward line and we kicked 4 goals to 1 and set up a handy lead of 29 points.
We had a rule of “100% always” and this is what the boys strived for, not easing off to the final siren. Again our back line was ruthless, only giving up 2 points while we kicked another two goals to end up 43 point winners.
We not only had 22 solid contributors in the day but 4 boys who didn’t play the grand final and 2 who missed out through injury who attended most training and all he games. All 28 boys should be really proud of your professionalism, attitude to the carnival and discipline throughout the entire program.
Thanks you for trusting me and my assist coaches. Most importantly, I’m sure we all had a great deal of FUN too.”
Darren Moulder – Under 14 Div 1B Coach
Final Score: YJFL 9.12 66 def SMJFL 2.11 23
