Coaches Blog Round 7 2017

The kids started the day in awesome fashion. The Tigers jumped them by 4 goals early but it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. 11 goals to 3 after quarter time showed just how well they have played in this match given the amount of youngsters that came into the line up to replace our elite PSA talent.

We were missing Wilson, Cameron, Beck and Hinder but they were ably replaced by under 16’s kids in Garcia and Bright and Brock and they did a great job. Patrick Italiano came into the side as well and showed clean skills and a real ability in front of goals and he finished with 3 snaggers! O’sullivan and Humphries had really good days through the middle and down back Taylor, Bain and Martin controlled things nicely!

Matthews was great in the ruck and Reidy continued his good form! Lauchie Ebsary continued his stronger form and kicked three nice goals and Atem Deng showed pace and evasiveness all day to be a constant threat! It was a very even 26 point win and takes them to a 5 and 1 record.

The reserves played great footy for 3 quarters, but were punished for 1 lazy period in the 3rd. The 1 pt loss really hurt, especially after producing our best footy for the year. We had winners everywhere with Wityk and Sutton kicking 5 and 4 respectively. Cipro, Manton, Maguire, Slater and Erceg playing major roles through the midfield and down back, Ness, Coniglio and Fullgrabe were in real good nick.We gave up 7 goals to 1 and nearly all of those were skill errors or lapses in concentration! Another good lesson for the boys and one we have to learn quickly from. Yaz strained a hamstring but it looks minor and will miss this week and hopefully make a return against Peel.

The league game was a strange affair. We thought we had great control but Crowls going down with a knee coincided with some really poor entries inside 50 and a 2 goal lead turned into a 1 goal deficit at the major break. The boys looked a bit flat at half time and given we were down a man in hot conditions,we had serious concerns.

However the boys showed great maturity to come out with the aid of a nice and apply great pressure on the field, and on the scoreboard. Cary banged a couple of long ones through and was supported by Tarryce and Rogers, and at the last change we led by just under 4 goals. Given the strong wind we didn’t think it was enough to be honest. Davey Ellard was pretty sore and we were definitely slowing up a fair bit.

But again the boys dug in and responded. 3 goals in 4 minutes at the start of the quarter got the margin out to 41 points and the Tiges were too far back. We tried to cough up the game with a lack of composure at times, but prevailed by 17pts. The best thing to come out of the game was that we still have a lot of improvement in us and we’ll have to lift again against the quality of Subiaco! Our best cam from Rogers who kicked 3 and had 23 touches. Cary with 5 goals. Nobel with 9 marks and Blight who went to the dangerous Bolton after half time and did a fine job! Uges was again unbeatable down back and Ellards 13 tackles was significant!

Crowley will miss 6 weeks which we are stoked with because early reports pointed towards a full recon. With the double bye he’ll only miss 4 so it’s a huge result for us. Banners got smashed late but has pulled up well so no major damage done there either!

This is a big test! Subiaco are mature and big bodied and are playing super footy! It will take our best to get the money! Again it’s going to be perfect conditions and with both teams sitting on 5 and 1, it looms as a great clash so get down and support the boys!

Greg.