By Richard Foote

The Fields made their way to Headquarters for their first ‘home’ game of the year after a disappointing first round loss to Old Carey. The wide open spaces of Elsternwick Park were set to suit the youthful CGFC team, with no less than six Under 19’s pulling on the Guernsey for the seniors. The only pitfall of having such a young side was the late arrival of a few of the younger players - one who had to watch the end of Saturday Disney and the other with an orthodontist appointment getting his new braces on.

Nonetheless the ‘Baby Fielders’ were confident of a better showing in Round 2 against a dangerous SKOB’s side boasting AFL premiership winner Josh Mahoney and a host of A-grade performers. We started with strong intensity and, in a sign of what lay ahead for the day, the lead changed hands a few times and the momentum continually shifted. A one point advantage to Caulfield at quarter time was probably a fair reflection.

With five changes to the team from round one, it was always going to be difficult to gel as a unit and SKOB’s began to get on top and if it wasn’t for some poor kicking by them and some good kicking by us, their half time lead may well have been more than four points. Cal Sinclair was proving a massive handful for the SKOB’s defense. He worked his backside off all day to continually be a target across half forward. He was working well in tandem with Matt Sundberg who took a brief time out from quantum physics and long division to make 1001 leads across half forward and catch everything that came near him.

The arm wrestle continued in the third quarter and SKOB’s extended their lead to 10 points at three quarter time. The backline was holding up well against a more experienced forward line and we continued to run and carry, but let ourselves down with a few turnovers. Woody, who decided to spend the night in hospital to get a good night’s sleep, was an inspiration and his attack on the footy set the scene for everyone else to follow.

The last quarter was a real test of character. We could have easily conceded that we were a young team with an interrupted pre-season and let them run over the top of us, but our pressure and intensity was an absolute credit to every bloke out there and we played a great last quarter. We constantly harassed and forced turnovers and with 44 guys out on their feet, our young legs held up better and a couple of late goals by Slevo was enough to get us over the line. There was a bit more soprano than bass in the song after the game but we belted it out nonetheless.

As old fossils Wij, Footie and Evans sat weary in the change rooms after the game, the rest of the team headed back outside for a game of tiggy and a trip over to Elsternwick Macca’s for a happy meal.

Massive game coming up against recently relegated old Haileybury and we cannot afford to be satisfied just because we have registered our first win. Plenty of old school rivalry against this mob and we must keep up our intensity up for four quarters if we are to get over the line.

Go Fields!