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ST BERNARDS 22.15. 147 def CAULFIELD GRAMMARIANS 10.8. 68 Goal Kickers: A. Slevison 3, B. Carboni 2, B. Evans, C. Hammond, G. Winter, A. Sinclair, R. Picking
Best Players: J. May, M. Sundberg, B. Carboni, A. Wolkow, C. Hammond, S. Widjaja After a terrible performance against St-Kevins we were looking to atone against St Bernards, a team who had only narrowly beaten us earlier in the year. After a number of discussions throughout the week the playing group had decided to take greater ownership of our destiny and promised to play a more accountable brand of football. Unfortunately Wij failed to take ownership of the coin-toss which allowed the Snowdogs to start the game kicking into a howling breeze!
The first 5 minutes or so was played at great intensity with both teams fighting hard to win the contested ball. Despite a number of early forays forward, we were unable to capitalise. At the other end, however, Bernards were peppering the goals without converting any majors. The opposition finally found their range and managed to ram home a number of quick goals, simultaneously ramming a big hole in our confidence.
The score at quarter time was 7.9 to 0.0. Obviously this was not a great start to a must win game but there were a number of positives which we took out of the first quarter effort. The preparedness of Chris May and Andrew Lawson to take on the opposition and run the ball out of the last line of defence was fantastic to see. The consequent link up play which saw Benny Hyland charge through the middle of the ground on a number of occasions was also fantastic. Jason May was getting his hands on a lot of the footy which shows he is starting to find his place in this team. Just like his younger brother Chris, he is a wonderful player with great work rate and endeavour and will only get better over the coming weeks.
The quarter time break gave us an opportunity to discuss how we were going to drag ourselves back into the contest. The general consensus was that we must continue to play the harder and tougher style of footy which was shown at times in the opening stanza.
Whilst the endeavour was present early in the 2nd quarter, the opposition dominated possession and continually ran the ball into their forward 50. But for Matthew Sundberg and his Mr Gadget arms, we would have been even further behind and completely out of the game. About 10 minutes into the 2nd quarter the boys finally found their rhythm and played some good footy. Much of this was a result of Wolk’s and Nobby’s wonderful tap work and the consequent roving by Gav Winter. Rob Picking was working very hard and found a lot of the footy. Both Chris May and Matt Sundberg continued their great form from the opening quarter. Not only were they stopping their respective opponents from finding the footy, they were prepared to get the ball themselves and run hard out of defence to set up a number of forward thrusts. Wij was playing his usual no fuss, hard at the ball footy until he was red carded for an incident which has now resulted in a very questionable 2 week suspension. It is an understatement to say that Wij will be sorely missed over the next 2 rounds but we are already looking forward to having him available for the last 3 games of the year. The score at half time was 4.5 to 9.10.
The mood in the change rooms at half time was quite positive even though the margin was still 35 points. We had once again shown to ourselves that when we put pressure on opposition teams they struggle. Despite this positivism, the entire 2nd half was a massive let down. We had promised to continue to play the attacking, yet accountable, brand of footy shown in the first half of the game. Instead, we slipped back into bad habits from previous weeks and went kick chasing, showed utter disregard for the opposition players and were highly undisciplined. We allowed the opposition to kick 8 goals 4 and 5 goals 1 in the 3rd and 4th quarters respectively whilst only managing to kick 6 goals 2 for the entire 2nd half ourselves. Come the final siren it was pretty much a case of Groundhog Day. The feeling in the rooms after the game was just as much a combination of disappointment and frustration as the week before. Let’s hope it is the last time we experience such a feeling in season 2008!
Although the entire result was one big disappointment, it would be remiss of me not to point out of few individual efforts from the game. Matt Sundberg’s 4 quarter effort on one of the most dangerous forwards in the competition was nothing short of amazing. His spoil tally for the day was eerily similar to his IQ……last seen hovering around 191.
Chris May was the other player who managed to play 4 quarters of footy. He was almost always undersized in the contest but managed to win the footy through sheer desperation. It was a great game by him on Saturday. We need all players playing with such desperation in the coming weeks.
Wolks was back in the side and showed his value. His ruck work was fantastic. We actually dominated the stoppages all day but often undid all of Alex’s hard work with our sloppy delivery into the forward line.
Both Carbs and Slevo worked extremely hard to find space but we so often let them down with poor delivery. They are arguably the most dangerous forward line players in the competition given the fact they possess explosive pace and great hands but often go unrewarded due to the lazy and careless delivery they are given. We need you boys to be firing over the next 5 weeks so keep your work rate up and I’m sure you will get greater reward in the coming weeks.
Finally, Gav Winter played a great game, probably his best for the year. His ability to find the ball and then find space is his greatest asset and we need this form to carry on into the remaining games.
So, come round 14 we have found ourselves in a position no one wants to be in. We are staring down the barrel of relegation and need to lift considerably over the coming weeks to ensure our survival in B grade. We find ourselves facing a huge test of character and as we all know, the club will be judged by how we react in such a situation. However, one thing we have on our side is that we have proven to ourselves over the last 2 years that we react very well when the odds are stacked against us. In 2006 we were stuck in no mans land and had to knock off the top sides to make the finals. We did exactly that and played in a semi final. Then, in 2007 we were in a very similar position to where we are now. We had to beat the teams around us to stay in B grade. Again, we managed to do such a thing and ensured CGFC had another year in B grade.
The proof is in the pudding, we can play wonderful footy when we must but for some reason the self belief which should stem from this appears to be non-existent at this point in time. We will stay in B grade. All it will take is an increased level of mental application and desire to not let each other down. As was shown on Saturday night, our strongest asset is that everyone involved at the club are great mates. With this in mind you should be doing everything you can to make sure we survive. Anything less, and you are only letting your mates down.
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