Match Report
The weather was cold, a 4-5 goal breeze was blowing and sweeping patches of Sun followed by bursts of rain were our playing conditions on Fathers Day 2022 at Olds Park.
It was more like a winters afternoon at Essendon’s “Windy Hill” than a Spring Day in Sydney.
The grounds were soggy in patches, the field was full size and the scene was set.
We had a plan, the same plan that got us past Miranda 2 times this season.
The Parents seemed anxious and nervous, the coaching staff tried to look cool and calm but weren’t and the Players seemed fine and not effected by the big stage – it was like they did not understand what pressure was.
The warm up was as normal, PJ, Sean and Roger taking them through their paces.
The pre-game talk was all about attitude, embracing the conditions and never taking a backward step.
The game was on – we were kicking with the breeze and needed a strong start.
Miranda were in attack from the start into the heavy breeze and our defense was officially under siege.
Nick, Dom, Kye, Matt, Luca as well as Alexander were all working overtime and we managed to hold them out and finally get the ball down to our forward and score a few goals in the quarter.
12 to Nil at ¼ time.
2nd quarter was played on Miranda’s terms, it was all down in their forwards and after they scored an early goal, the coaching panel clamped up, but all the players kicked into gear. We fought, tackled and blocked their run to goal.
Nick, Dom and Kye were protecting the goal line like their lives depended on it.
We ended losing the quarter but only conceded 1 goal 4 to 0 and went into ½ time up by 2 Points.
12 – 10 at half time our way.
The 3rdstarted and was another tug of war – our backs were solid again and we started gaining dominant field space and the ball was forward a lot.
Our smalls Jhett, Budd, Lucas, Aiden & Alex K were doing their jobs and competing hard a with Anton running their backline out of legs and opening up James as a forward target. We finally cracked them with a few goals but it wasn’t enough.
Our Mids were working hard with Kieren, Riley, Oli, Vas, Tom & Scott all getting it done but we were looking for a bit more.
In came Nick who had been battling hard for us all day in the backline and in a 4 ½ minute burst pumped the ball forward with our other mids and really put the bombers to the sword and we kicked another 3 goals making it a 5 goal term.
44-10 (to the good guys) at the end of the 3rd Quarter.
We knew Miranda weren’t going away though and reset our positions ready for the onslaught. They came at us hard for most of the quarter the ball was in our backline with our mids all back there defending as well as our backline, we conceded 1 goal during the onslaught and when we finally had the run of the ball worked it forward against the wind and finally scored against the breeze.
It was done.
Final Score 50 – 17!!!
A great Team Effort and all our boys played their part so well for the Team.
It’s a great experience playing in and winning a Grand Final.
These boys have an understanding of team culture and unselfishness well beyond their years and this has been a key part of our season’s success.
Congratulations to all our Under 12s Players and Parents.
Special mention to Keiran Thompson, voted Best on Ground by the umpires.
A well-deserved, Victorious 2022.