Round 15 Newsletter

Match Day Lunch and Reverse Raffle - The last function of the regular season is coming up fast. On Saturday August 21 there will be a lunch organised by the Wellsmen and following the seniors there will be a reverse raffle held. A massive day for Old Camberwell football club, our last home game in the current rooms ever! More information and RSVP details will follow but make sure you secure your spot fast! This event will sell out quicker than the iphone 4!

Senior
The side got off to a flying start scoring four goals and leaving the visitors goal less, despite an extremely low key pre match build up, however it was never going to be long into the game before the young Fitzroy side were able to get their progressive game plan going and were matching the Wellers for skill, pace and endeavour. The third quarter was an arm wrestle and both teams' coaches would have been frustrated with some poor decision making and ball handling, despite being applied under intense pressure. Vice captain Danny Desanctis responded to an bit of prodding by the coach and he produced a mighty effort to lead the team through a very tough quarter of football. Another thriller beckoned at Balwyn, with the home team trailling by one solitary point. The match tactics were in full flight, with one side playing a 16 man "rolling zone", the other playing "play on" football, in an attempt to counter the number of players operating in the forward 45 scoring zone. Roh Kapoor developed that steely look that he is known for when it comes to the time to win agame of footy. His efforts at burrowing in & winning the hard ball showed the way for his young team mates and they responded to his efforts by lifting their collective work rate. The Wellers found the key to unlocking the strategy and finally broke the deadlock at about the 20 minute mark of the last quarter. Two quick goals broke the game open, and the Wellers took the points with a fighting 10 point win over an extremely game, and talented opponent. Better Players for Camberwell were Caine Hillier, Jack Ymer, Cam Wilson, Danny Desanctis & Roh Kapoor

Reserve
In a dramatic reversal of form against a side that defeated us by 4 points on their home ground early in the season, the Reserves finally produced a 4 quarter effort to completely dominate this game against Fitzroy. Once again there was a shortage of players prior to the start of the game however our starting line up of 21 was ready for action – albeit a very sick Alex McKenzie was a major concern Any concerns for the performance of McKenzie at fullback were quickly diminished by his outstanding first quarter where Alex set the standard for “hard at the ball” football. A very handy 5 goal lead at quarter time was set up by the dominance of our onballers and the skill of the Cottrell brothers who are both in great form. Up forward both Lloyd and Mulligan were providing key focal points for the constant attacks on goal Our second quarter effort was a continuation of the first and was only marred by some inaccurate kicking for goal. Our defense was once again strong and limited the opposition to only 2 more shots on goal The half time score of 5gls 12 bds did not reflect how Old Camberwell was controlling the game. Unfortunately the 17 shots for goals only gave us a 24 point lead at half time with Fitzroy kicking 3 straight goals. A further worry was the yellow card our resident “tough man” Matt Cottrell received for tackling to hard ?! The second half was again marred by a number of missed opportunities on goals, however it probably produced the best even team effort for the year. With all players contributing well, in particular those coming on and off the interchange bench, we finished the game with 40 shots on goal – 15gls – 25 bds to Fitzroy 7gls – 8 bds a 65 point win to the Wellers. With Sam Mulligan finishing the game with 5 goals and Alister Lloyd chipping in with 3 well supported by Will Robinson and Andrew Romanin the forward line managed to keep constant pressure on the Fitzroy defense. This week we are away to Parkdale Vultures which could give us an opportunity to record our first back to back wins, during the Reserves “Month of Revenge”

Under 19
On Saturday the Under 19’s had the task of heading down to the beach to play an in form Beaumaris side with knowledge that a loss would end any possibility of playing finals. The first quarter started with the Beaumaris midfield clearing the ball directly out of the middle unimpeded into their forward line, this trend would continue for the entire quarter. Time and time again Beaumaris would win the ball and run it forward with pace and skill kicking goals almost at will. A seven goal to zero opening quarter left us in a deep hole that was all of our own digging. At Quarter time the players were asked in no uncertain terms for a better effort. With some restructural changes and a verbal commitment to lift the first five minutes was a marked improvement on the first quarter. Unfortunately the next 20 minutes would be similar to the first quarter. We were totally out played in all aspects of the game, together with an injury to a key player made the mood rather sombre in the rooms. At half time the players were again asked to lift and commit to running, tackling and winning the ball. The goal was to simply win the quarter. Whilst not playing practically well in the third quarter it was a much better effort and that was shown on the scoreboard winning the quarter by three points. We had began to run harder committing ourselves at each contest however our skill level remained poor and restricted us from truly capitalising on our efforts. The Final quarter was a very even one but the sting was totally out of the contest and frankly very few players from either side were still interested in the game. Beaumaris ran out winners by 66 points. A better effort is needed from our team this week against an Old Scotch team who are coming off two rear losses and playing for a top two spot. It’s now about pride, with the character of the group I am sure the recent poor form will soon turn around.

Under 18
I had a feeling that there was going to be something not quite right about our first game for the year against Northern Bullants. I had experience with them last season and they are a different unit. Anyway, enough said for now - I suspect there might be something more to play out yet about this game. Having said that, the fundamental deficiencies that have been haunting us for several weeks now came home to roost. I’ve never been particularly concerned about who we play each week. Sure, there are opposition players the coaching staff look at and match ups, etc BUT my basic belief as a coach is that if we get our playing group and our structures and our game plan properly organised, we can take on anyone. There were warnings sent out that we were about to play the sixth best team in U18 - not the bottom side in Division 1. We highlighted the fact that they have run the other top teams to low losing margins. They were always going to be a danger - especially on a mud paddock that they knew how to play. I thought our Team’s intensity and start was very good at the beginning but then we sat back after half a quarter and expected the game to happen with little teamwork. To be 40 points down at half time with 20 shots by them to our 5 shots was very ordinary. However, I’ve never questioned the intrinsic, organic fibre of our Team to summon up a group of individual efforts that lift the Team to do something. Your third quarter against a serious opposition was a further sign that there are players within our group that can draw deep within themselves to get our Team going. To kick 6.1 against 5 points with several of our players down for the game proved yet again to me that we have something within this Team that is special. The positives that came out of this match is that Dys had a great hit out and several different players other than the usual ones stood up under pressure situations. We still have time to get everything together but that time is shrinking quickly.

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