thirds match Report:
GRAND FINAL - CAULFIELD GRAMMARIANS VS. MARCELLIN
Caulfield 14.6.90 Defeated Marcellin 7.9.51
CGFC GOALKICKERS:
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CGFC BEST PLAYERS:
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Well Caulfield Grammarians return to Thirds football in the VAFA has resulted in the ultimate prize of the club's first Thirds Premiership. The 39 point victory over Marcellin has been the culmination of a lot of work by many people and is certainly an indication of the health of the club. After the disaster of year that was 2015 the new committee, led by our President Peter Small, set in motion a number of key actions, many of which played a key role in this win. They committed to fielding a Thirds team from which Damien Hay led the charge in building player support, they appointed a great senior coach in Simon Williams who set to rebuild a culture of commitment and they rebuilt that "club" feel that is essential to ongoing success in sporting organisations.
However at the start of any season you never really know how you are going to go and with Thirds coach Will Bowes not available until Round 6, it could have been a rough start. Luckily preseason numbers were strong and a number of players who were destined to play a lot of reserves football swelled our numbers in early rounds. The team was well led by Damien Hay and managed by Luke Matias which resulted in an opening round 24 point win against old rivals Ormond. The early highlight of the season was the playing return of veterans and club legends Andrew Strain & Andrew Lawson, as well as the number of U/19 premiership players from last year. The next 2 rounds before the bye saw a spirited loss to last year's grand finalist Marcellin, where inaccurate goal kicking hurt us, and then a thumping 50 point win against Kew. By the time we reached Round 5 against Williamstown the team, and club, were travelling well but injuries were starting to take their toll and many of our early season stars like Damien Hay and Sam McDonald had justifiably earned a call up from the Reserves. This didn't slow down our building momentum as Cal Hogan inspired a 6 goal win over the yellow and blue, which was unfortunately marred by a nasty late hit on Liam Bourke that resulted in a broken jaw.
With a third of the season now completed and with a record of 4-1 interim coach Luke Matias stepped aside for Will Bowes, who was returning from 5 years in Sydney. Will's first game in charge was at home against Therry Penola where the boys continued on their winning ways with a comfortable win thanks to a starring on ball performance from Tom Stephenson and 5 goals from Connor Wilson. We then headed out to Essendon Fields to take on last year's premiers PEGS. It was a tough battle in wet conditions and there was more than a little spite in the game, however it was a gutsy second half that saw us grab a stirring 43 point win and probably for the first time the lads were starting to think about finals. After a thumping win over Old Camberwell we then received a wake up a call with a poor display against St Mary's and also picked up a few injuries that made the following week hard to field a team. Getting a full playing list in the Thirds is always hard but Round 10 against top side Marcellin was probably the low point for the year. Thankfully a number of club legends came out of retirement to help us field 18 players and we managed to hold on to grab a 3 point win, in what was probably our best win the regular season.
With the season now heading into its final weeks we now found ourselves top of the table and our numbers steadily improving. We were also boosted with key players Nick Karoly and Matt Linklater committing for the remainder of the year and the upcoming finals campaign. Rounds 11, 12 & 13 saw relatively easy wins over St Bedes/Mentone, Ormond and Kew with the highlight being Trent Bockman's 5 goal against the Tigers. We then faced off against Williamstown where the game was again marred by an off the ball incident that resulted in Kirren Ponniah being taken to hospital. It was a windy day and after being scoreless at quarter time, things were not boding well. However the boys delivered a disciplined third quarter into the breeze and we managed to squeeze out a 10 point win to finish Williamstown's season. A final game drubbing of Old Camberwell left us top of the ladder and the rights to host Therry Penola in the 2nd Semi Final.
Due to ground availability we played the 2nd Semi Final on a Sunday at Glenhuntly and were buoyed by the broad support of the club with many senior and reserve players creating a wonderful finals atmosphere. Tim Mollard had the big job on Therry's star forward and was performing brilliantly when tragedy struck late in the second quarter. A hard tackle resulted in Tim being knocked unconscious as well as receiving a major break to his arm. Despite this and some other rough house tactics the lads took a 21 point lead into a long half time, due to the time it took the ambulance to treat Tim. The second half saw a fantastic response from the team as they piled on 5 goals to nothing to effectively end the game in the third quarter. By game end we had run out 77 point winners and had booked our place in the grand final. Marcellin then won a tough preliminary final against Therry, which was fitting as they were easily the other top 2 side in the competition. So on Saturday 27th August at 9.40am our boys took the field and delivered 100 minutes of tough, skilful and uncompromising football to deliver the club the premiership. Andrew Strain starred down forward with 5 goals, Jeremy Anderson (battling with a break in his hand) dominated the ruck and Cal Hogan & Matt Linklater played brilliantly through the middle. However it was the team's response to adversity that was probably just as impressive with the team losing Luke Matias and Will Kedmenec by half time, which resulted in Jake Smart playing full back for the first time this year and nullifying the competitions leading goal kicker. Dan Gray unfortunately broke his ankle in the third that left us short in some of our rotations. However we ran the game out much better than Marcellin and deservedly won the game, with Jeremy Anderson receiving the VAFA's best on ground.
It is always hard in premiership season's as many people contribute to the final result without getting the privilege of playing in that final game. This season was no different as we had 5-6 quality team members who missed due to injury or selection. They should however feel incredibly proud of their contribution and the win is just as much theirs as the 24 who played on the day. The Thirds were also well supported across the year by our goal umpire Colin Bockman, who always had oranges cut up for the lads every week, as well as some former players in Jason Smith & Matt Cutler. Finally the catalyst for the team's success was the direction of the coaching group, led by Simon WIlliams, who created a brand of football that is hard to beat.