Photo: Marcus Marigliani takes a screamer in the 2nd quarter
2011 VFL Seniors
North Ballarat 5.5 9.8 11.9 15.18 (108)
Sandringham 2.4 3.4 6.5 6.6 (42)
GOALS:
North Ballarat: Black4 Micallef 4 Tyler 2 Nicholls Campbell George Norris Richardson
Sandringham: Marigliani 2 Walsh Lourey Cahill Siposs
BEST:
North Ballarat: White Garlett Hoy Micallef McKenzie George
Sandringham: Walsh Gallagher Archer Hallahan McQualter Curren
The road trip was not a pleasant one as we were soundly beaten by the Roosters to the tune of 64 points. Very hard to digest and work out why and where it went so wrong as we started well with 2 quick goals in the opening 10 minutes followed by only another 4 for the entire game. This was most uncharacteristic in the context of the season as we have always managed to get ourselves into games regardless of the situation; not on this weekend unfortunately.
No doubt the Roosters handled the windy conditions very well and their ball use was very clean and were able to score at both ends of the ground with direct football. In contrast we seemed to use the defensive side far too often and turned the ball over in the process.
David Gallagher was a shinning light as he played a “ Captain’s Game” and seemed to read the blustery conditions with ease winning many possessions throughout the day. Tom Walsh also made a fine contribution in defence and on ball as he continues his good form this season. His willingness to compete was terrific. The saints should be very pleased with the Irishman’s progress.
The defence was under continual assault as the scoreboard indicated ( 30 plus shots to 12 for the us ) James Hallahan also did very well as the longer the game went the better he played. Good performances came from the midfield play of Daniel Archer, Tom Curren, and Andrew McQualter who battled hard all day against the tide. Rob Eddy also had plenty of good passages as well. The debut of Kieffer Smith Cameron was a positive as he handled the promotion to the senior stage well.
Goals came with great difficulty. Marcus Marigliani being the only multiple goal scorer with 2. All in all very disappointing for Zebraland as this was not the way we expected this contest to go. Our goal is to be very competitive this season and arguably this was our worst effort for 2011.
We know we are better than this outing and perhaps we can just put this one in the memory bank and ensure that we do not repeat it in anyway, shape or form for the rest of the year beginning with the television game at home this week against an in form Bullants who sit in the top four.
2011 VFL Reserves
North Ballarat 2.8 3.9 7.13 11.17 (83)
Sandringham 1.4 5.9 6.13 7.15 (57)
GOALS:
North Ballarat: Dare 3 Struth 2 Lynch Dobson Lenehan Towers Giampaolo Bell
Sandringham: Stapleton 2 Cathcart 2 Boland McBain Meehan
BEST:
North Ballarat: Evans Couch Lynch Giampaolo Dare Struth
Sandringham: Wade Ferraro Andrews Shakallis Heyne Stapleton
Well they say a week is a long time in football and how true that is for a couple of different reasons in the Reserves. After beating a top 3 team last week in Williamstown we faced a team below us on the ladder and one we had previously beaten earlier in the year on home soil. With the opportunity to string a couple of wins together we had played pretty good footy in less than perfect conditions at Nth Ballarat. A goal down at three quarter time and kicking to the scoring end in the last we had worked ourselves into a position to strike especially after getting a major on the board early to draw level, it was not long after that Mat Boland marked and converted from 40 metres out only to have the goal disallowed due to an indescretion in the goal square, from here things turned sour. What should've been a great away win for the club turned into a poor display of fight and lack of willingness to compete. Allowing Nth Ballarat's big men to take a few soft marks in succession up forward effectively foiled any chance we had of taking the points. Most disappointing for the team was the opportunity we had been presented with, the chance to put two wins together (something we are yet to acheive) and head home to face another team (the Northern Bullants) lower than us back on home soil. I have no doubt the boys will be hurting and it certainly made for a long trip back down the Western Freeway. It's critical for the development of the group that we bounce back this week and show that we have learned from our mistakes. On a positive note we still managed 22 shots on goal for the day and gave ourselves every chance of kicking the 15+ goals we aim for each week.
Better players for the day were 1st year Zebra Matty Wade who gathered 23 disposals off half back and displayed a very high level of skill with his ability to penetrate the opposition defence as well as finding his team mates in very windy conditions. Ricky Ferraro tried tirelessly all day in another example of leadership from a young guy who is knocking on the door of Senior selection again, he found the footy 26 times and layed 3 tackles. Maddison Andrews (Captain for the day) was again brilliant in the midfield, throwing himself into every contest with no regard for his own wellbeing, he had 23 disposals and not surprisingly a team high 6 tackles. Peter Shakallis has began finding his way back into top form over the past couple of weeks with a solid and reliable performance down back gathering 18 possessions. St Kilda listed player Nick Heyne again started like a house on fire in the midfield, reminding everyone that he is not to be forgotten with 22 disposals, 4 tackles and 10 of those 22 possessions being won of his own accord. Matt Stapleton another one who is finding some good form in the middle of the year finished with 15 disposals and 2 goals in another good outing for him.
This week it's the Northern Bullants at home in a must win for the Reserves and after having a week to mull over it, you better believe we will come out fighting. Go Zebs!
Last Modified on 05/07/2011 10:14