Round 17 Newsletter

Seniors
It had been a 4 month break when the Wellers last entertained the Sharks at Gordon Barnard Oval. The margin was 47 points in favour of the visitors on that day in late April, but a lot had changed for the visitors this time around as they took the long journey down Warrigal Road, having won their past 5 games. The Sharks, in 2nd spot on the ladder would no doubt be entertaining thoughts of a top spot finish, despite the fact that they had dropped two matches in the past four weeks, losing to teams that the Wellers had themselves defeated, if they could take the points on the day. The strong Northerly breeze was on hand, and Camberwell took the advantage and led by 12 points at the first break. Caine Hillier was in full flight early taking some strong marks inside the forward line and Matt Partington was his hard working self presenting as a target for the mid fielders going forward All in attendance knew that Beaumaris would come back hard, and that they did, although the match was extremely tough, tight affair. The margin was 1 point in favour of the visitors. Despite dominating the centre clearances, Beaumaris struggled to match the opposition on the score board, and the Wellers defence, led by newly found mobile defender Andy Romanin, Damo McGuigan, Dan Morley & Cam Wilson were displaying the talent and capability that has helped put the side in the position it has enjoyed over the past 10 weeks, and the margin was extended to 14 points at the final break in favour of the visitors. The intensity of the match lifted 10 fold for the final quarter and Beaumaris found the big sticks 4 times to the visitors two times. The score was tied at the 25 minute mark, stayed that way until the final seconds of the match until Beaumaris big man Sean Coote snatched the ball from a boundary throw in on the forward flank, and took a snap shot on goal resulting in a win to the home side. Probably the area that stood out the most to all concerned was the tackling on display by both teams, and the fierceness of the contest.

Reserve
With a pre-match lead up that consisted of only 5 players turning up to the ground by 10.30am and a general attitude of just filling in time, the Reserves were always in danger of dropping their guard against a rejuvenated side that smashed Rupertswood the previous week. In a match that only produced 1 goal per quarter from Old Camberwell, we struggled to find more than a handful of players who performed at anywhere near their best. In spite of the general lack of team support Ben Craven put in a fantastic 4 quarters at Centre Half Back and included a quick run in the middle of the ground. Nick Searles continued his good development in the Ruck and Adam Goldblatt chased and tackled with some real vigour. With the loss of Alex McKenzie for the second half due to another heavy knock we struggled to clamp down the constant forward thrusts by Beaumaris. In particular the absence of Matt Cottrell in the middle of the ground caused a number of centre clearances to be missed. This put enormous pressure on our defence which over the past few weeks has remained solid. During the second half it was left to the likes of Blake Hillier, Andrew Hudson & Matt Decarne to show some level of competitive nature and to support Ben Craven’s fine effort. Unfortunately the game fizzled out to a very disappointing loss with Beaumaris winning 11 gls 13 bhs to Old Camberwell 4gls 8bhs. This week we return to our home ground to take on Caulfield in our last match for the season. This will give a few players a real opportunity to redeem themselves for an insipid performance against Beaumaris. For those of you who get down to watch the Reserves, look out for some fireworks this week.

Under 18
Although not coming away with a win, this game was a much better performance from our U18 Group against an opponent who has managed to introduce some highly credentialled personnel over recent weeks. With a number of players coming back from long breaks through injuries and overseas trips, it has taken the past few games to get much needed match experience and team familiarity back into some of our group. It was very pleasing to see Michael Cooney have a solid workout in his first game back after an 11 week enforced lay-off from a broken foot, and Stefan Anjou and Matt Dyson showed they are heading in the right direction with their performances. We will still need to keep working hard together on the track to recapture the form and team strength we had earlier in the year. Whilst our momentum and confidence has suffered in recent weeks, I know that the pride and potential within our U18 Group is nearing full restoration and the resolve of our players will ensure they keep working hard on getting back to where they belong. Better players were Stef Anjou, Matt Klashovski, Dan Wasniewski, Jacko Crothers, Matt Dyson and Harry Levvey.

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