2011 Gala Days Grand Final Report - U10 Teal
Saturday, 03rd September 11
2011 Gala Days Grand Final Report - U10 Teal
Drummoyne Power vs Wests
"The future is bright"
Facing Wests in the major semi the boys knew that they had to be at their best.
Louis pounced on the ball from the first ball up kicking the ball forward to Fraser who crumbed the ball and slotted it through for our first major - we could not have asked for a better start.
Our centre players of James, Louis, Nick and Finn were on top right from the start and were able to provide us with first use of the ball.
While a wonderful piece of team play from Nick kicking to Fraser and in turn to Zach resulted in only a point it was clear that our boys were there to play.
The centremen continued to dominate with Finn providing a wonderful handball out of the pack in the forward line to Fraser who kicked his second for the half.
Finn in particular was proving a handful for Wests with his tenacity at the ball, ability to keep his feet and remain calm in a tight situation continuously feeding the ball out of the packs to his team mates. His versatility was illustrated with a tremendous contested mark from a Wests kick out.
Any hint of a comeback was repelled consistently by Josh Paul and Luke Gallen who dominated in defence.
As much as we were dominant in this half, our kicking was somewhat ineffective as we bombed it deep into the forward instead of aiming for the top of the square. As a result we kicked points instead of goals and while Wests only managed 1 point for the half, our wayward kicking resulted in a scoreline of only 2.5 at half time.
Wests took the game up to us early in the second half as we became a little lax in our marking. Wests played in front and our lax marking resulted in an early goal to them.
Luke and Josh in the backline continued their strong defence and were ably supported by Jackson, Ben Wrigley and Harrison and they managed to steady the ship.
Finn managed to get his hands on the ball in a pack yet again kicking it forward to Fraser who swooped and kicked a much needed goal.
Some undisciplined play crept in as the game tightened which thankfully only resulted in 1 point to Wests.
From a free kick in the middle James played on kicked long into the forward line where a pack converged and Fraser swooping on the spillage kicked truly yet again to extend our lead.
This was quickly followed with another centre clearance for Finn who kicked to Fraser who kicked long to Zach and a mark and goal resulted.
The icing on the cake was when Louis passed to Bodey who kicked long to Zach who goaled on the siren.
Final score - Drummoyne 6.5.41 to Wests 2.2.14
Grand Final v Maroubra Black
The Grand Final match against Maroubra was a very different game. Maroubra were immediately on the attack and this seemed to unsettle our boys. Early pressure and some lax marking resulted in scoring opportunities for Maroubra and following continued forward thrusts they finally scored what was to be the only goal of the game.
Our boys were struggling to win the 50/50s and were under constant pressure. Had it not been for Josh Paul, Luke Gallen, Harrison and Jackson, we would have found ourselves further behind and these boys were performing an admirable job in defence.
We really only had 1 scoring opportunity for the half as Maroubra continued their pressure all over the ground and we could only manage 1 point for the half.
Half time - Maroubra 1.1.7 to Drummoyne 0.1.1
At half-time coach Paul moved Fraser into the centre and James into the forward line. This had an immediate effect as Fraser was able to get his hands on the ball first but he was under immense pressure on each occasion which made it hard to get a clean kick.
Our forwards struggled to get to the front and it seemed that each time we repelled an attack out of the backline that there was a Maroubra player there. Otherwise we were forced to the boundary line.
The second half was a tug of war and provided some of the toughest U10 football seen for the season.
While only scoring 2 points Maroubra managed to win the second half as Teal could only manage 1 point.
Final score Maroubra 1.3.9 to 0.2.2
Maroubra certainly deserved their win and while Teal is the better team they just weren't on the day. Our boys were visibly upset but coach Paul congratulated all of the boys for reaching the Grand Final, for the way that they fought the game out and encouraged them to hold their heads high.
It is clear that these teams are going to have a great rivalry in the coming years.
Click here to go to the 2011 Grand Finals Photos page
