Round 11 Match Report - U8s
Saturday, 17th July 10
Round 11 Match Report - U8s
Under 8s Teal vs Newtown
The Teal team were “on fire” after their week off and even with a few players still away. Our 8 players plus Nathan playing up from u7s played magnificently. I could not nominate a player of the match, as there were so many fabulous performances and great displays of teamwork. DP were well matched against this Newtown team, but kept the focus up the whole match to really shine.
Our team are really beginning to synergise well together. The groups in each position worked well:
1. Darcy & Joel – this pair were amazing and worked very well together. Darcy scored 3 goals and was non-stop all match. He was getting right into the pack and passing and kicking well to Joel. Joel scored loess goals but made several excellent marks. Joel had two beautiful ruck taps, a few great smothers and some nice passing to Darcy. Great work boys.
2. Meera, Toby & Alistair – this threesome worked well together too. Toby used his height to dwarf his opponents in the ruck and in defence. He did some lovely kicking and scored a goal. Conversely, the smaller Alistair got in and around the opponents constantly with intense manning up. His defence is quite beautiful to watch, as he is a “bull dog” who never lets the opponent have any space. When he was in the forward position, he also managed to open up the play a number of times with good running and swerving. Meera followed Alistair’s lead and manned up well, to Newtown’s great annoyance. She made a lovely mark, some good hand passing and a near goal.
3. Oscar.L, Kosta & Nathan (u7s) – this threesome have never worked together before and did very well. Kosta had his best match in a long while. He is starting to really get the idea and throw himself into all the action. He used his height to get four excellent marks that delivered 2 points and a goal by Kosta. He also did some good running to open up the play and get the ball to his team-mates. Oscar.L is improving every week as his confidence grows. His defence is really going well, with great manning up against his opponents that resulted in a lovely grab. He scored a “goal” from the centre position, which sadly only earned him a point.
Nathan from U7s was a wonderful addition to the Teal team. He had joined us at training on Wed – which is to say that the U8s had taken advantage of training under the enthusiastic U7s coach during the school holidays! Nathan’s skills in his first season are really amazing. He has a lovely tactic of putting his head down and just burrowing through the pack of taller opponents. He was good in all three positions - kicking two goals, successfully fighting for the ball in the ruck and getting the ball out of the opponent’s goal area when in backs. Thanks Nathan – you are welcome to join us again.
Under 8s Silver vs Newtown
This Newtown team was a strong opponent, so most of the play was in our defense which brought out the best in our Silver team. Our team were down a few players and had a lot of holiday news to catch up on, so things got ahead of us in the first half. However, we fought our way back into the game in the second half, showing some terrific teamwork and defending the goals. A number of our players showed improvement in their footy skills and some player highlights are below;
Angus (No 31) was in the thick of the action all day with lots of kicks including kicking our second goal after bamboozling the opposition players with a 360 spin , baulking, ducking and weaving.
Nicky (No 30) continously went in hard and was focussed to get possession of the ball. Active in defence foiling a number of Newtown attacks through handballing amongst teammates Joe, Angus and Nicky. After first sitting on the ball, wrestling, then baulking, Nicky went on to kick out first goal of the match.
Joe E (No 55) had one of his best games of the season and chased the ball fiercely. As fullback Joe did some nice long kicks into the centre.
James (No 10) ran all day, creating opportunities for his teammates. He did particulary well in the ruck, where he tapped the ball to his teammates and helped get the ball down to our forward line.
Oscar H (No 22) showed some great courage smothering the ball in the backline stopping a sure goal.
Riley (No 58) took one of the marks of the day and was ever reliable in defense. Set up a nice passage of play by handballing to nicky who quickly got the ball to Angus the loose man in our forward pocket.
Joseph L (No 45) dived on the ball to stop a Newtown attack and then handballed to riley to clear the ball out of backline.
Gilbert – helping us by playing up from u7s - had a few kicks and shared many hi fives with brother and fellow power team-mate, Oscar. Thanks Gilbert.
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