A cool sunny morning at Wahgunyah saw the Roo boys take on St Patricks.
Coach Scott Parker had the boys right in the centre of the ground prior to the game giving them a pre-game speech about how important this game was and the way he wanted them to play the Corowa way.
After regaining a few missing players from last week, the side looked balanced across the field.
The first quarter saw Josh Parker had a hard tag from the start which saw him get creative to find space. Blair Livingston-Laing had to take on the extra load.
The game didn’t open up much in the first quarter. Josh added a goal to the board and Aidan Ratcliffe kicked a goal as well showing us the double cobra followed by 5 behinds. St Patricks only kicking a behind.
Rydah Brown in defence followed on from his form last week by taking the ball straight on and being not taking a sidestep, his intensity, skill at the ball was obvious and he just wanted to win the ball for his team.
The second quarter was a lot closer in pressure with Ollie Mathews kicking the only goal for the quarter. The handball skill of Billy Barlow (Lachie Neale like) was a great to see the training paying off, on show the usual in and under pressure machine Jake Witherden was front and centre digging the ball out.
Jaxx Johnstone was solid up forward providing plenty of options for the ball carriers in Eli Hales, Kobe Widdison, Leo Davis and Abe Spencer. Again, the two smallest players in the side Finley Douglas and Franco Moolman showed the rest of the team their tackling prowess.
At half time Coach Parker insisted the boys continue working, applying pressure and look for the best options going forward. Also addressed was the inaccurate kicking, with last week’s legacy of 12 behinds. The boys went out to execute the coaches plan, with Jaxx and Lucas Tait kicking a goal each. Cooper Gerhard, Nate Fenn, Jagger Doody, Jai Richey and the best tackle for the day by Ashton Powzyk in the goal square was indicative of the back line pressure showed by the boys.
The last quarter saw Ollie take over rucking duty from Darcy Upton who had worked extremely hard for the first three quarters, Jobe Mills, Tom Bonnitcha up forward got a couple clean touches of the ball help the boys move the ball forward, again accuracy in front of goal was and issues with the Roo boys kicking 5 straight behinds.
Best: Rydah Brown (10), Josh Parker (4), Jake Witherden (11), Ollie Mathews (23), Jaxx Johnstone (17) & Nate Fenn (15)
Under 14s
This week the 14s played at home against St Pats who were searching for their first win of the season.
It wasn’t to be for St Pats with the Corowa Rutherglen boys piling on 20 unanswered goals to run away with the win 130 points to zero.
Goals: 4 F Murray-Wright, 3 L Arnold, A Heagney, E Lavis, 2 H Webb, B White, 1 H Kuschert, O Rowe, C Wilcox
Awards: B White (Painters Cafe), F Murray-Wright (Peter Ellis), E Northey (TH Kitchens & Joinery), R Barber (Little Oasis Beauty), E Lavis (A&A Automotive), H Webb (Joel Bilney Builders) & A Heagney (Ricky D’s Pizza)
Under 16s
This week saw a depleted Roos line up take on St Patricks at Wahgunyah.
The Roos boys were fired up from the start and kicked the first 3 goals within the first 5 minutes of the quarter with bangers controlling the ruck and Jaxson Bolger, Jay Lavis and Caile Duryea wining the centre play supported by Angus Massey running hard off the back flank.
St Pat’s had no answer to the speed and agility of Duryea and Bolger and the strength of Massey and Lavis taking on the opposition to break through and present the ball to finishers such as Tex Longmire and Isaac Dickinson.
When Chad Brookes took inspiration from soccer player Messi to score acrobatically on the line an off the ground kick bringing the first quarter score to 5.2.32 to 1.3.9, the St Pat’s boys looked helpless.
Whilst the second quarter was tighter in the scoring department as the St Pat’s boys rallied. The Roos led by Jay Lavis on ball were backed by Will Gannon’s solid defence, were able to keep the St Pats boys to 1 goal whilst the Roo’s kicked 1.3 for the quarter.
The Captain moved into the ruck and dominated the centre clearances and coordinated the Roos set up and keep St Pats locked into their defence end.
One passage of play saw Harry Ireland and Lachlan Witt combine showing the skills that coach Rocket Lane asked for pre-match when requiring all the team to step up due to the numbers of players unavailable.
The third quarter saw a continuation of the great football skills on show with the kicking of Jay Lavis and Angus Massey hitting targets accurately and Tex Longmire and Ethan Lane along with Lachie Witt dominating the marking contests.
Brodie Eyers despite being injured looked dangerous all day in the forward line, supporting Tex Longmire who was on fire with his contest around the ball and kicking.
U14 player Emmett Northey came off the bench and worked hard at fullback dominating his opponent and really showing what he will bring to the U16’s next year. Austin Ross-Anderson also backed up from the U14’s and showed his skills keeping his opponent out of the game and gaining some valuable possessions.
The Roo’s kicked 4 goals 3 to St Pats 2 goals in the third.
The fourth quarter saw the Roo boys maintain their dominance with Caile Duryea, Isaac Dickinson and Hunter Hall controlling the centre of the ground supported by Jorden Allen, Chad Brookes, Hamish Baker, Ashton Wynne, and the ever strong and reliable Nick Sandral.
Zach Arnold, Hamish Baker and Will Gannon had to work hard all day but had sensational games in defence.
Jay Lavis and Angus Massey were workhorses on ball with Caile Duryea hitting the ball hard all day and Tex Longmire raining down the goals.
Final scores: Roos 13.8-86 to St Pats 6.7-43.
Goals: Tex Longmire x 5, Caile Duryea x 3, Isaac Dickinson x 2, Chad Brookes x 2, Ethan Lane x 1
Best: Tex Longmire, Jay Lavis, Lachlan Witt, Nicholas Sandral, Angus Massey, Brodie Eyers
27°C