ROUND 13, CANADA BAY v KELLYVILLE
Wasn’t it great to hear the song again – even though it had been so long, the kids forgot the words!
Wasn’t it great to see Fin tackling again.
Wasn’t it great to see Will, Ben C, Sam and Jack save the day on the last line of defence time and again.
Wasn’t it great to see Thea “dartin’ and fartin'”.
Wasn’t it great to see Sam and Nic still smothering in the dying minutes.
Wasn’t it great to see Ben M kick three goals then dish off another.
And, after several weeks of building and building, wasn’t it great to see the kids put together a four quarter hard-at-the-ball effort and finally get their deserved reward with a good, tough win.
All 16 kids came in at quarter time huffing and puffing, red faces and sweating, even on a brisk Drummoyne morning, and it was clear they all wanted the win from the outset.
They’d come close in recent weeks, but this time they didn’t want close.
They came out firing in the first quarter and although their domination only yielded three points to nothing in the opening term, the signs were there.
The goals were going to come and Ben finally put one through midway through the second quarter.
As Tony urged her to do, Thea took the opposition on and kept dartin’ and fartin’ through defenders, used the ball beautifully by hand and foot, had clever vision, ran hard, linked well and it was no coincidence she was instrumental in three of our five goals.
Fin on the other wing also had a hand in several goals – Ben’s first came from a slick handball from Tank, but it started with Fin winning a hard ball upfield.
The Fin-Thea-Ben combination produced the next two goals and we all loved Fin’s trademark crunching tackle which set up Ben’s second goal late in the third quarter to give us a nice 15-point lead going into the final break. Some kids get a big grin on their face when they eat ice cream. Fin grins when he tackles big kids.
That lead owed a lot to the backline which kept Kellyville scoreless in the first half and without a goal until the final quarter. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have their chances, it was just that every time they threatened, our backline was relentless and combined brilliantly – Will sweeping and taking intercept marks, Jack, Sam and Jonno running the ball out, Ben C not only using the golden fist, but outsprinting forwards to get first use of the footy and clear it our way, while Blake mopped up the loose ball.
Fresh from carving up the snow at Perisher, Tank carved up the opposition ruckman, not only in the air but around the ground, while Archie’s tackles keep rattling bones and Joey was creative in the middle and up forward where Liam provided a strong marking option.
Even with a handy lead at three quarter time, the game still had to be locked away and with a win in sight, the Cannons weren’t going to let it slip. An early Kellyville goal made it a nine point game but Ben M’s third goal quickly restored the buffer.
Minutes later, as she was streaming forward at full pace, Thea gave off an unselfish handball to Ben who had his fourth goal in his sights but, rather than go for glory, he took the team option and chipped over the top to Hugh who gathered in the square and slotted it through with his left foot to give us a very handy 22-point lead.
A couple of quick Kellyville goals introduced some nerves to the contest for the final few minutes until Paddy fittingly kicked the sealer after following his own kick into the forward pocket, tackling, smothering, extracting himself and the ball from the bottom of a pack and then putting it through from a tight angle.
Jeff’s GPS said he clocked up 5.6km running the boundary, Paddy and Nic probably doubled that, but Darren earned his sweat having been sent out on a marathon’s worth of messages.
So, the battle for the spoon was won and we’re off the bottom. Three more games to go and with three more performances like that, we’ll be hearing plenty more of the re-learned song.
CANADA BAY 5.6.36 Goals: Ben M 3, Hugh, Paddy
KELLYVILLE 3.2.20
