Fitzroy Junior Football Club Under 10 Team 1 Gold 2015: Round 11

Fitzroy’s game against Canterbury B was an unusual one, with both teams being down on player numbers. It was to be tightly contested, skillful and highly entertaining, none the less. Given that it was the first week of the school holidays, a number of players on both sides were away on vacation or unwell. Fitzroy took to the field with 14 players. In his pre-game address, John noted the ‘out of the box’ nature of the occasion and given this, stressed that the boys needed to run on the big ground and have fun. He told the boys to ‘lead into space’ and the make the boundary line ‘their friend’. Captain, Alex, led the team out (having won the toss and electing to kick to the southern end). The first quarter started with Will in swashbuckling form at full back, repelling two Canterbury attacks and kicking the ball forward. Kyle, Jack and Darcy were defending strongly, yet the early momentum was with Canterbury, allowing them to kick two quick goals. With play beginning to open up as the quarter progressed however, Fitzroy capitalized from an incursion into their forward line to have Lucas kick the team’s first goal. Laird applied one of the best tackles of the season to win a free kick and Lachie, using his pace to take the ball out of the half back line, took a bounce and kicked the ball forward. Darcy was in dashing form, attacking the ball repeatedly and running into open space, leaving opposition players trailing behind him. At the break, Team Statistician, Gerry, ran through the team’s statistics (clearances, bounces and inside 50s). He encouraged the boys to ‘get clear, take off and take a couple of bounces’. John spoke with the boys, praising the tackling of Mason and Noah Dekker and thanking Darcy and Jack for their outstanding quarters. The second quarter started with pack tunneling specialist, Leo, getting down and dirty to clear the ball to fleet footed Noah Dekker. Joel was in outstanding form in the ruck and Kyle cleared the ball from the centre in trademark style, taking two bounces before kicking up to Lucas. With the ball in Fitzroy’s forward line, Lucas and Joe were unlucky not to score while Laird did his best to create scoring opportunities. Mason, enjoying the open spaces on the wing, was using his pace to attack the ball and win contests, while Tom Ward was rock solid in defence on the half forward line. Joel was courageous as he smothered the ball on two occasions, throwing everything into the contest. The boys stayed out on the field at the half time break. Gerry noted that while the team’s statistics were still positive, Canterbury had been more efficient at scoring (despite both teams getting the ball into their 50 metre zone a similar number of times). In his address, John told the boys that regardless of the score line, they were matching Canterbury in the contests and winning most of the stoppages. He told the boys that their endeavour and intensity was ‘sensational’. In what was to be an inspired move, he swapped Kyle to play at Centre Half Back and asked Jack to play on the ball. The third quarter started with Kyle having an immediate impact on the half back line, winning a number of contested possessions and using his strength to break free to kick the ball forward. Jack’s intensity at winning possession and tackling was creating opportunities and this helped get the ball to Joe, who kicked the team’s second goal. Darcy was having another cracking quarter and helped get the ball to Lachie, who kicked for goal from 50 metres out and watched as it bounced through for his first goal (shepherded by Lucas). Alex was using his exceptional work rate to create opportunities and Kyle was continuing to thwart all attempts by Canterbury to get the ball into their forward line (with strong support from Will). Despite the distraction of a boundary throw-in hitting a tree branch, Joel was winning the ruck duels easily, demonstrating why he’s one of the best in the competition. Jack won a free kick and narrowly missed kicking a goal. At the break, the coaches were delighted with the boy’s performance. Gerry noted that ball had been in Fitzroy’s forward line for most of the quarter and encouraged the boys to continue to ‘run and carry’ and to ‘get some yardage’. Paul asked the boys to focus on winning the aerial contests in the final quarter while John told the boys that they’d been ‘absolutely brilliant and unbelievable’. The final quarter started with Fitzroy under pressure. Kyle saved a certain goal in the last line of defence, before taking a bounce and kicking the ball out of danger. Darcy took a terrific mark and continued his dashing form, while Tom Ward and Alex were giving their all trying to get the ball into Fitzroy’s forward line (with second and third attempts). Mason went for a run with the ball and kicked to the wing, while Will and Laird were teaming well in the backline to repel the Canterbury advances. Joe won the ball at Centre Half Forward and kicked long to Lucas, who then went for a run. Leo ran down the ball on the wing and created a stoppage until help arrived, while Alex dashed out of the backline with the ball, taking a bounce along the way. Jack continued to worry the Canterbury forwards with the intensity of his tackling, while Will won possession of the ball in the last line of defence and used his pace to kick the ball into open space. With that the quarter ended. After congratulating the Canterbury players on their win, the boys left the ground exhausted but thrilled to have participated in such a fast paced game. Back in the rooms Gerry noted that both teams had an even number of inside fifty’s for the game (15 vs 16) however the Canterbury forwards had been more efficient at scoring. He acknowledged that the 14 boys had ‘run out of juice’ towards the end, understandably given that everyone had played all four quarters. John was delighted with the boys performance, in particular their intensity and intent at the ball for the whole game. He noted the impact that Jack had made in the second half of the game with his ‘ferocity’ at getting the ball yet noted that the whole team had shown similar commitment and had competed on all levels. In the face of adversity, the boys had stood up to the challenge and made everyone proud (‘a real highlight of the season’). The footy cards when to Leo and Jack (Leo for his committed performance every week and continued improvement and Jack’s for leading the way for the team in contesting for the ball). Despite the score line not going Fitzroy’s way, everyone felt good about the performance of the team and proud of their achievement.

Final scores:

Q1: Fitzroy 1.0.6 - Canterbury 2.0.12

Q2: F 0.0.6 - C 3.0.30

Q3: F 2.1.19 - C 1.0.36

Q4: F 0.0.19 - C 1.1.43