Team In Focus
Year 9 Round 5
AMPJFC 6-9 (45) def South Coogee 4-5 (29)
The Year 9’s hosted South Coogee at Shirley Strickland Oval on a fine, clear Saturday morning. Applecross had a full compliment of players available and lined up with a strong 15 on the ground and solid 6 players on the bench. The skipper for the day, Waisea, lost the toss and South Coogee opted to kick against the mild breeze favouring the Leach Highway end of the ground. We were a bit sluggish out of the blocks and lost Presley early after he left the ground after a heavy tackle and at the first break we were behind 3-2 (20) to 1-3 (9). The boys applied themselves better in the 2nd quarter and after a really grinding quarter we were just behind at half time but not playing anywhere near our best. The third quarter again was a bit of a grind but we were getting better attack on the footy and at 3 quarter time scores were pretty much level. With the game on the line the boys finished the game off really well and apart from some poor set shot finishes in the last quarter we could have won by a lot bigger margin.
All in all a really good solid performance from the team. Hayden Centa rucked for most of the game and continues to improve every week. Julian, Luke, Elliott, Geoff, Jaspar and Ben all played strongly in defence with Geoff and Julian repelling many attacks and winning a lot of one on one contests. Matt BC played an outstanding running game at Centre Half Forward and took a number of really good running marks attacking the footy and also hit the scoreboard. Adrian was simply outstanding setting a clear example to his team mates of how to attack the footy and it was a superb, blistering solo run from Adrian that set up our first goal. Pres came back onto the ground after receiving a heavy knock and played a pivotal role in the last quarter. Will worked really hard after copping a heavy corky to the thigh and made a significant contribution to the win. Josh, Ned & Tom all played well in the midfield while we had good contributions from the day’s skipper Waisea, Charlie, Thommo, Guy, Tyler, Brady & Jake. Looking forward to hosting the undefeated Mundijong next Saturday.
Coaches Brad Thompson & Matt Jenkins
