U 9 ROUND 1

This week saw us travel to Upper Ferntree Gully and with a new player Josh Irish joining us at training on Friday now pushing our number of available players to 16 I felt we were a better chance to be competitive.

We worked hard on our skills at training and used the coaching mat to ensure all players had a better idea on the positions and how to play them. All I wanted the players to do was to hold position and guard the space in their area. At the very first bounce I could tell this had made a huge difference - all players were holding position better and not chasing kicks, manning up when they should and putting great pressure on the oppositions ball carriers to perfection.

I would have to say this is one of the best team games we have played all year and to manage to score over four goals and just get pipped by a few points shows we are definately heading in the right direction - well done boys!! 

The Under 11s travelled to Knox for Azza’s 50^th game. It was a very windy morning, and we kicked into the wind in the first quarter after losing the toss.

Knox had a couple of really tall kids, but we managed to keep them to 1 goal kicking with the wind. We didn’t look like scoring into the wind, and Knox seemed to have spare players setting up the wall and keeping the bal in their forward line. Josh and Jack both played well under lots of pressure, with Ben and Drew playing on the Wing and pushing back to help out in defence.

We only managed 1 goal with the wind, but also kept Knox scoreless for the quarter. Sascha took a great mark and went back to slot the goal, which was great to see. Riley was getting the ball into our forward line, and Ryan was doing well trying to keep it in there. The third quarter saw the backline under pressure again, and we looked a bit tired after some tough games. Max and Blaise from the U10s came to help out after their game, as we had no-one on the bench. Knox kicked 2 goals and, at three quarter time, we were down by 17 points.

With the wind in the last quarter, we had some hope of getting the win if we could get a couple of early goals. Adam kicked a good goal to give us some momentum, but Knox flooded our forward line making it hard to score with so many players in the area. When Knox did run it out of our defence, the rest of the ground was open and they managed to score a goal into the wind. The boys fought it out, but did not have enough run left to get the required score on the board.

On a positive note, the encouragement to team mates, shepherds, and kicking using our non-preferred foot has improved greatly throughout the year. We will keep working on our structures, talk and fitness, which will be important over the last 4 or 5 rounds with only 1 or 2 on the bench.

Bayswater 2.4-16 def by Knox 4.8-32

Goals: Sascha, Adam

Best Players: Riley, Ben, Jack, Josh

We played another Top 3 team today in Knox. The boys are showing good signs of improvement and when they do chase hard and lay tackles they look great. Pleasing is the way the boys are starting to link up and realize where they need to be so as to be in the best team position. With only 5 games left in the season we are well on our way to reach our goals at the start of the season and they have nothing to do with ladders or finals but that each player has shown significant improvement with their Football and as a team we have developed.

With a week off training and a bye due to the Public holiday weekend we need to come back next Tuesday refreshed and hit the track hard so we can reverse the result when we meet Coldstream next week!

Congratulations to Andrew Curry on 50 games!

Bayswater 2.5.17 def by Knox 5.5.35

Goals: Sanden and Cody

Best Players: Kane, Andrew, Anthony, Sanden, Daniel and Billy

Coach: Greg

Round 9 v Upper Ferntree Gully

Q1: It was always going to be a danger game for us as we were now the hunted being on top of the ladder and Upper Gully needed a win to stay in touch with us in the four. It was a windy day and we won the toss and kicked with a strong breeze. We started very well and the game was at a high intensity as the ball moved very quickly from end to end. We kicked only 3 goals in many attacks into our forward line but held the opposition to one.   

Bayswater 3.1.19 - Upper Ferntree Gully 1.1.7

Q2:Against the breeze our backline had to stand tall and work to keep the opposition to a minimum. They did a great job with help from our onballers pushing back to fill holes. We played some fantastic running football into the wind but we failed to capitalise up forward.     

Bayswater 4.2.26 - Upper Ferntree Gully 4.2.26

Q3: All tied up we came out confident that if we took our chances we would set up the win in this quarter. Again we struggled to hold on to our marks in the forward line and we rushed many chances as Upper Gully started to get on top. We only managed 2 goals 4 behinds and the opposition made full use of their attack inside the forward line kicking 3 straight.   

Bayswater 6.6.42 - Upper ferntree Gully 7.2.44

Q4: It was a matter of staying positive and we knew we could run the ball and link up into the wind to run Upper Gully off their feet. We started very well with many chances early in the quarter but unfortunately we couldn’t put score board pressure on them. They eventually ran away late in the quarter to kick 3 quick goals and win the game.   

Bayswater 6.9.45 defetated by Upper ferntree Gully 10.6.66

U15 ROUND 1