Round 3 Under 18s Coaches Report

Round 3 saw us return home to face Sturt in what we knew would be a big test. The group had enjoyed a solid week on the track and had been training well, and our focus was ensuring we were able to put together a solid full-game effort as we aim for more consistency both week-to-week and in-game. Tyrell Sgroi came in to the side as well as Oscar Kregar from Berri for his first game of Under-18 football.

The first quarter saw both teams start with opportunities with the majority of the initial stages played between the 50’s as both midfields battled for get on top. Pat Singleton saved a certain Sturt goal by winning a 1 v 5 contest down back which really highlighted the desperation our players are competing with at the moment. From the 15-minute mark onward we were able to kick 4 goals to none to take a 24-point lead in to ¼ time. Most impressive was the way we moved the football and had multiple options up forward. This was highlighted by 6 individual goal scorers in the first term alone.

We know Sturt are a quality side and they were always going to have patches where they got on top. Our focus for the second term was to keep playing each moment as it presented and not focus on the past. We were able to win the term 4 goals to 3 and were able to control the ball sensibly when Sturt were getting on top. The end of the quarter saw us go from one end to the other without Sturt touching the ball – a Harry Lemmey shot on the run extended our lead to 31 points on the siren.

The second half was a fairly even battle, although we were disappointed to kick 5.11 and missed some shots that should be converted. Once again though we didn’t rely on individuals and shared to scoring with 5 separate second-half goal scorers.

Our midfield were impressive on the day winning the clearances 33-19 and we led the tackle count despite having 105 more possessions than Sturt. We certainly have some room to improve though in areas of our game and will be addressing some of these areas this week.

Dylan White was our best on the day accumulating 31 disposals and 2 goals, whilst Jesse Thackeray led the clearances with 9 of his own and Harry Lemmey finished with 3 goals up forward.

I was pleased that our group were able to back up their game from last week with another impressive display. This week presented another challenge against an in-form Norwood side. The game is at home on Saturday at 12:50pm, we hope to see a lot of support there.

Best: Dylan White, Cade Kennedy, Kobe Ryan, Harrison Lemmey, Patrick Singleton, Finn Higham

Goals: Harrison Lemmey (3), Jaeden Watts, Mitchell Hahn, Tyson Coe, Dylan White (2), Jed Obst, Jesse Thackeray, Luke Young, Tyrell Sgroi (1)

Paul Streatfield

U18 Coach