Goal Kickers:
Ados, Patty, Liam, Shimmy, Benny & Braedon
Best Players:
Unbelievable TEAM EFFORT!
Encouragements:
Milestone : 50 Games Benny
Announcements:
We played Warrandyte who were 4th on the ladder on a sunny but cold & frosty morning at Warrandyte in what was a seesawing game all day. We continue to lapse for a 5 minute period in quarters every week & it has cost us a couple of games. When we eventually learn to work for the full 15 minutes of a quarter we will improve even further. Having said that I was very proud of the way we played against one of the top teams and we really took it up to them & although we did not get the points I felt we were the better side on the day. We continue to get better performances from all the boys a couple to mention are Benny who played a really good game on their best forward & beat him convincingly, Cazza & Will both played great lockdown rolls on some good players. Last week I called them the 4 Musketeers they were good again as was Charlie in his 50th game. Lucas was strong across half back in fact the back 6 were awesome all day, K laid a strong tackle to lock the ball in our forward line, James almost kicked his 1st goal. Grayson had some terrific 2nd & 3rd efforts. This week is our last game of the year & it would be great if we could finish with a bang. To all the parents I am going to organize a Sunday in the next couple of weeks where we as a group U/11 Blue get together for a fun day down at a park in Eltham. I will email you guys in the next week or so.
Goal Kickers:
Liam, Shimmy, Patty, Jorbell, Ados
Best Players:
Really solid TEAM performance
Encouragements:
Charlie, Jorbell, Eric, Will
Announcements:
As the great Shane Crawford famously said " THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT" wow what a game of footy we played. We played the most complete Team game of footy I have been involved with as a Coach. From the very 1st bounce we were uncompromising in the way we played our footy. In round 2 this year Beverly Hills beat us by 70 points so to beat them by 36 points, yes that's a 106 point turnaround is a testament that we have a group of kids who are willing to listen & work hard on their footy. It began on Tuesday night at training where we worked on our tackling & being 1st to the ball & boy did it carry over to our game Sunday. We were absolutely fearless on our attack at the ball all day, simply we were Harder, Faster & Stronger for longer than our opposition. I don't have enough room to mention every single act of every single player's individual brilliant acts but I will mention a few. James had an awesome smother at a very important stage & played his best game for the year, Will was as hard as nails down back & repelled many attacks & also played a brilliant game, Shimmy drove the ball into our forwards all day where our own goal kicking machine was again dangerous finishing with 2 snag rolls, Vinna was strong up forward & a good focal point as was Charlie, K laid a world record tackles, the 4 Musketeers ( Liam, Jorbell, Alex, Patty ) racked up 500 possessions between them & Morgan's game in the ruck made me proud not only as his coach but as his Dad. He was tough & strong from the very 1st bounce & beat 4 different bigger boys, his 2nd & 3rd efforts & tackling were inspiring. Now we need to bring that intensity to our remaining 2 games.
Goal Kickers:
Ados (2), Liam (2), Charlie, Jorbell, Eric, Shimmy
Best Players:
Unbelievable TEAM effort
Encouragements:
Morgan, Priva, Alex
Announcements:
On Sunday we had the early, early game with an 8.30am start so firstly I would like to thank the Dads that set up the ground for us, much appreciated. I have said it all year we have the best group of parents by far. Onto the game where we played a very good Kew Rovers outfit who I felt after the game were the best & most complete side we have faced this year. Having said that we played an ok 1st quarter of footy then some really good footy for the 2nd & 3rd quarters but then let ourselves down with a very poor last quarter. We put ourselves in with a massive chance of causing an upset but let ourselves down with a big drop of our work rate & effort. I know it sounds like the same old story every week but unfortunately it is & we must play harder for longer to get results. The good things that come out of the game was the form of the Flash (Shimmy) he was brilliant & his run & carry was instrumental in us being in touch, great game mate. The usual suspects ( Liam & Jordy ) were good again. Alex was back to being busy, Charlie capped off a good game by winning the oppositions medal & our own (Eddie Betts) Ados kicked another 2 snags, sorry Ados I know you would prefer I said Mark LeCras. Benny played a very good game on a very good player.
Goal Kickers:
Ados (2)
Best Players:
Shimmy, Liam, Charlie, Alex, Jordy, Ados
Encouragements:
Shimmy, Vinna, Braedon
Announcements:
On Sunday we travelled to Macleod to take on the top team who had only lost twice so far this year & after our effort last week who knew what was going to happen. I know we have all heard that old saying that the scoreboard didn't truly reflect the game, well this was one of those times. I was extremely proud of the way we played on Sunday our attack at the ball was awesome & at half time the top team would have been worried. Unfortunately we couldn't keep the pressure up in the second half & Macleod showed us why they are on top. We continue to show in glimpses what we are capable of but we must keep working for the entire game. Macleod had more size all over the ground which has a common theme this year but our boys acquitted themselves very well. Liam took some big marks all over the ground & topped his day off with a nice left foot goal ( which is by the way his opposite foot ) Ados as always was dangerous around goals, Jordan, Charlie & Patty were their usual busy selves & as in every previous week so far we had some boys improve. K played forward & was responsible for one of our goals, Jake went into the ruck in the last qtr to give Morgan who battled hard against a very big Ruckman a spell & competed well & is now over his injury which means he can spend more time further up the ground. Grayson was awarded our encouragement award for his hard work & tight checking in the backline & continues to improve each week & Benny was our General down back as he has been all year & Will also played well down back.
Goal Kickers:
Liam, Ados, Jordan
Best Players:
I thought we all played well
Encouragements:
Grayson
Announcements:
This week we played Ashburton on a real winters day where we played a game of 2 halves. The 1st half we were terrible, 2nd to the ball, lacked pressure & intensity, not what we showed the week before & we were made pay for our lack lustre performance. At half time we were 14 or so point behind which on a wet & very muddy ground was in the end always going to cost us. After a stern word at half time we came out & looked like the team that beat Camberwell the week before but as I keep telling you boys we cant afford to only play in patches, & until we play harder for longer we will continue to get these results. Liam was outstanding & marked like it was a dry day , he was rewarded with the oppositions medal for best on ground, well done mate. Jorbell ran hard all day & tried his best all day & Matty Tino was awesome across half back in what was his best game for the year. Next round we play top team Macleod & we must turn up to play right from the start.
Goal Kickers:
Morgan
Best Players:
Liam , Jordan , Matty Tino
Encouragements:
Encouragement Award : Matty Tino
Announcements:
Goal Kickers:
Best Players:
Encouragements:
Announcements:
I feel like a proud parent of 22 young boys after our fantastic win on Sunday. We travelled to Camberwell to take on the Sharks 7 without doubt played our best game of the year. For the 1st time in a while we had 22 great contributors & showed that when we all put in we will get results. Like I always say to you boys if you continue to work hard for each other the scoreboard will take care of itself. It started in the ruck with our ruck combo of Benny & Morgan giving us 1st use against bigger opposition both of the boys kept jumping in & in the end their Ruckman wasn't all that keen to compete well done boys. Liam marked everything all day & his telling marks all over the ground were a huge part of the win. Lucas played at CHB which was foreign for him but his strength down back was great. Eric, Charlie & Patty were our on-ball brigade & continually drove the ball into our forwards which allowed us to kick our highest score for the year. Ados kicked 3 majors in a role he is very good at & is fast becoming a very dangerous forward. Jordan who was Captain for the day on his 50th game was busy all day working both in attack & defence. We had a couple of firsts on the day both Charlie & Jaxon kicked their 1st ever goal I'm sure there will be many more boys. But I truly believe that it was the small things that got us the win, we had so many smothers & tackles on the day & the continual improvement from all our boys. The improvement in Grayson, Caleb, who were both desperate in defence is very important to our team as is the continuing improvement in all of us. We have a bye this week then play Ashburton at Home the week after ,we are only 2 games out of the 5 but we must keep improving & working hard to get there.
Goal Kickers:
Ados (3), Liam (2), Charlie, Jaxon
Best Players:
FANTASTIC TEAM EFFORT
Encouragements:
Liam
Announcements:
Special Mention Jordan on his 50th game well done mate you played a great game.
We travelled to Bundoora on a wet & miserable day and what continues to be a trend the opposition were much bigger than us but that did not deter our boys from cracking in. Once again which is also forming a trend we just fell short of a great win. I am extremely proud of the way we are improving each week and I am certain a win is just around the corner. I want to take this opportunity to commend the behaviour of our parents after some unsavoury incidents by the opposition parents. I am very lucky to have good people at my side and I want you to know you did your Son, Club & yourself proud with your behaviour in very trying circumstances. Have a good week off & I will see you guys in 2 weeks.
Goal Kickers:
Priva (2) , Liam , Eric
Best Players:
TEAM EFFORT
Encouragements:
James Feain
Announcements:
On Sunday we played Doncaster at Whatmough and fell short by 13 points in another one that we let slip. I feel like a broken record but once again it was our inability to play man on man footy that I believe cost us the win. It is something we are going to work on until we get it right & once we get it right I have no doubt the wins will come. Even though we got beat I was extremely proud of the way we fought out the game but I need us to start playing team footy. By that I mean not kick chasing but staying on your player. All of Doncaster's goals came from players on their own & us not being accountable.
Goal Kickers:
Ados, Liam, Lucas, Jake
Best Players:
Charlie, Jorbell, Patty, Shimmy, Ben
Encouragements:
Ben
Announcements:
Sunday we travelled to Alphington to take on Parkside who were 3rd on the ladder. We kicked into a strong breeze in the first quarter where a couple of unlucky bounces resulted in 4 Parkside goals. It was always going to be tough to peg back the 4 goal margin but with our boys never say die attitude we played the better footy after quarter time. Unfortunately we didn't make the most of our many forward attacks but I walked away from the game extremely proud of our boys and in the end ran out of time. Caleb played his best game for the year & the tackling machine Patty continued with his great season so far. Corey also played his best game & James is continually improving & both he & Grayson did some good things in the backline. Morgan added some strength & vigour and made his presence felt in the ruck in the 2nd half & Jordan mopped up nicely across half back. We just need to learn to play 4 quarters boys & the wins will come.
Goal Kickers:
Aden Butera , Jake Marino
Best Players:
Patty, Eric, Charlie, Caleb, Jordan
Encouragements:
Encouragement Medal - Caleb
Announcements:
Today we played a really tough brand of footy but fell just short. What I want us to take away from today is that we need to concentrate for 4 quarters not 2. That means we have to man up all the time not just some of the time. The parents & I were proud of your effort today but that was definitely one we let slip. The great thing about footy is that we only have to wait one week to fix the things we did wrong today. Jordan Bellissimo won the award from Heidelberg well done mate.
Goal Kickers:
Aden Butera (2), Cory Dwyer
Best Players:
Patty, Charlie, Shimmy, Ados, Benny & Liam
Encouragements:
Patty Dooley won our award for his run & carry as well as his tackling pressure today as it was awesome.
Announcements:
Happy Mothers day to all the mums today.
Well the season has come to an end & just as I asked from the boys we went out with a bang. We have obviously improved as we have now beaten 2 sides convincingly that beat us the 1st time round. The total improvement from every player comes down to the boys willingness to learn. The year was full of fun & pride I could not have asked for a better group of kids. Personally I want to thank the boys for accepting Morgan as one of their own he has had his best year of footy & fun with you boys. From a Coaching point of view I will say this, we have a team of champion young men who have represented the Club, themselves & their parents with absolute integrity be very proud boys. To the parents who are normally harder to win over than the boys I can honestly say that I have made many friendships that will last long after footy. I was welcomed into the fabulous family that is u/11 blue. Thank you very much for allowing me to coach your boys I loved every minute. To Ange Bellisimo thank you mate for taking on the role of Team Manager an absolute god send for me. Laurie for being my Assistant Coach & sounding board, mate I thought we worked well together & look forward to working together hopefully next year. Mick for being my runner every week its a non thankful job mate but very appreciated from me & the boys. To all the parent helpers who I will go into more detail presentation night thank you very much. Now for the game we played good, strong, tough footy & when we do that we win. A couple of highlights were Benny playing his 50th game & kicking a goal after playing all year in the backline & I think this maybe my favourite highlight for the year with Braedon kicking his 1st ever goal & everyone of his team mates swamping him to enjoy it with him. Every one of the 22 boys played their part on Sunday & the song was sung with much gusto.