Jerra and I got down to Riverton Reserve nice and early to get the ground set up for our last home game of the season. The strategy worked well because we had everything set up before 8:30am so I could relax a little bit before the game started.
We had a pretty good turn out of 13 players. Piara Waters only had 10 players so the plan was to have one of our players play for Piara Waters (I would rotate a different player each quarter) so they would have 11 players and we would have 11 players plus one interchange. Thanks to the following players for volunteering to play for Piara Waters:
1st Quarter – Dylan
2nd Quarter – Jeremy
3rd Quarter – Luke
4th Quarter – Caleb
Our interchange player was on the ground within 30 seconds after the start of the game because unfortunately Kevin re-injured his broken toe. I hope Kevin is OK because he’d trained well on Tuesday and really did a nice piece of play to get a kick before having to come off the ground.
Steve once again looked after the umpiring duties, my Dad was the goal umpire and Jamie looked after the time keeping. The positive and encouraging comments from parents and relatives towards the players was excellent as usual.
There were a number of good performances today. I thought Jared was exceptional, he really battled hard all game and must have taken at least 10 marks – most of those being overhead contested marks. Caleb continued his good form, he really plays well when he is in defence. Jensen was very aggressive when going for the ball and he provided some excitement for the crowd with a couple of nice runs through the centre of the ground and he also kicked a good goal. Kobe looked good in the forward line he’s starting to put himself in the play more, he also kicked a nice goal on the run and took a strong contested mark. Alex as usual provided a strong contest and kicked a great goal. Jeremy picked up a number of possessions with his long kicking being a feature. The little guys Nathan, Ethan (never missed a target with his handball) and Dylan all played well. This was probably Jordan’s best game of the season he’s really improved his reading of the play and contesting for the football.
I hope Dylan has recovered after Jared booted the football into his stomach from a couple of centimeters away – he was pretty badly winded.
It was a very enjoyable game between two pretty evenly matched teams. All of the kids have improved as the season has progressed and importantly they all seem to be enjoying themselves which is the main thing.
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