It was good to be back playing football last week as we took on the reigning premiers Chidlow on what was a pretty good day for football. An odd shaped ground greeted us, both teams were going to need to play corridor football, no pockets to see here, as the ground undergoes some much-needed upgrades!
Tyson was playing his 200th game as six fresh faces came into the team. Matthew O’Keefe, Rory Stewart, Brock Jasiorowski, Matt Hampson, Andy Deabreu and Cam Nicol, all playing their first games as Roos.
We started well as Keefy took the reins in the ruck, first use of it out of the centre as the boys got down to business. We had plenty of it but couldn’t kick a goal as Aussie and Tyson struggled to find the target, Aus taking a cracking mark before kicking out on the full the perfect example of how we were doing the hard work without capitalising! Tyson finally got us underway as we slowly wore Chidlow down, four goals eight for the quarter to nothing, we were off to a solid start.
Cam was off with a broken thumb early and with Aussie on the sidelines being patched up after a big hit late in the quarter, we were down to two on the bench to start the second.
Keeefy continued where he left off, dominating the ruck, Jake, Luke and Jesse were finding plenty of it as Tyson and Mick started to take advantage of the great work further up the ground, it was very apparent this was not the Chidlow of last year as they struggled to keep up, eight goals twelve to one point at the main change.
The boys were feeling the heat as we started the second half with Chidlow nowhere to be seen, Rory and Dev joined the boys in the middle as Chook, Marty and Nick repelled everything that came down back. We started to find our rhythm with Tyson, Mick and a patched-up Aussie kicking goals, nine goals to a point for the quarter, we had blown Chidlow away.
Chidlow finally kicked their first goal early in the last quarter as the boys began to feel the effects of a very hot day, Lyndsey was done for the day, Kizza confined to the goal square adding to Cam’s injury. Chook shifted forward to kick a couple of sneaky goals and with Nick into the ruck the boys closed out the game big winners over a Chidlow team that will certainly be a tougher opponent next time we meet!
Tyson, Jake, Chook, Luke and Aussie our best on the day with awesome games, Keefy picked up the peep show award for his great work in the ruck and around the ground.
Tyson kicked seven, Aussie six, Mick four, Chook two with singles to Jake and Lyndsey on what was a fantastic team effort.
Another big challenge today as we take on an emerging Mount Helena at home, they will be out to continue their good start to the season and nothing but a four quarter effort from us will get the job done, work hard boys and we will continue to improve.
Carn the Roos!