The Royal Review

Round 3 saw extremely wet conditions for the A grade game. Rain consistently fell across all 4 quarters turning the match into simple wet weather footy where being clean and having field position was paramount. Unfortunately, Seaton were much better than us at it from start to finish. They beat us at the contest, had good representation at the fall of the ball and were cleaner than us. This resulted in them having +23 inside 50s and keeping our backs under pressure throughout. The 34 point loss was an accurate reflection of a day where we were outplayed. It must be highlighted that we worked hard to set up our structures and our attitude and effort did not drop all day. Tully Kennett was again great in the midfield whilst it was also pleasing to have strong games from Kane Pearson and youngsters Seb Wilckens and Oliver Ormsby. We have reflected on our performance and the guys identified some clear takeaways from the game that will assist in our growth as a team. This week we are away at Kilburn in what will be another big challenge for our young group. See you at the footy Charles Canny A Grade Coach

Overall, happy with our performance in a real wet game and against a side that clearly was trying to physically intimidate where they could … initially. I thought we handled the conditions well and stay with a system throughout despite the rain. I thought our ball handling was good in the conditions and we never wavered in confidence of both the game plan and our ability to execute. Lucas Saunders provided us a strong target up forward and we executed that last kick into him well throughout the game giving him good looks at it. I thought Oli Borda played the F6 role really well and on more than a couple of occasions got the ball moving forward for us through grit, determination and work rate. Will Cameron keeps playing whatever role he is asked to a high level, his ability to step up and give Chopper a break was great and some of his touches to advantage were outstanding and noted by all with a keen eye on the game. Lovers and the backline again seem to have their communication and set going well and overall there were no passengers which is all we ever ask of the 21 that pull on the jumper for the Magoo’s. We talked about it in the rooms Tuesday night, but it is becoming obvious that we are gelling as a team and have a real want to play for our team mate, putting the team first and sacrificing our own game in the want for the win! Its great to see and our ability to celebrate the small wins in the game will see that we all enjoy our kick and catch on Saturday afternoons and the wins will come with that. Well done boys now we move on to the Chics, and we love to smash them.

The queens travelled out to Flinders Park this weekend for another competitive game. The girls had a strong start driven by our midfieldteam of Lucy White , Ashlea Carter , Farah McConnell-Psaltis and Indira Panelli. Amara Black’s impressive effort around the ground on the wing alongside a strong backline managed to hold off Flinders forward pressure in the first half of the game Lucy Hammond and Ailis Nolan capitlised on the teams forward entries and helped the queens take the lead into the halftime break. Heading into the final term , the Queens aimed to regain momentum with Lola Rugari helping spark an early forward drive , The girls fought hard but Flinders managed to take control of the scoreboard despite the Queens continued Effort. Overall the girls effort across the ground was strong and the team will look to build on to this performance heading into our game against Scotch this week.

We played our first home game of the season in Round 3 against Seaton, going down in a tight contest 9.7 (61) to 8.8 (56). We started the game solidly and looked switched on early, competing well around the contest and moving the ball with purpose. Unfortunately, a slow second quarter put us in a difficult position, with Seaton able to take control of the game and build scoreboard pressure while we struggled to maintain momentum. To the group’s credit, the response in the final quarter was outstanding. We lifted our intensity, won territory and gave ourselves every chance to steal the game late, but ultimately left ourselves with too much to do and fell just short at the final siren. There were a number of strong individual performances throughout the day. Stewart Watts and Charlie Brown were both physical and aggressive at stoppage, winning plenty of clearances and giving us first use through the midfield. Harrison Prosser competed hard in his first game in a new position, battling strongly in the ruck and winning plenty of taps. Down back, Bill Newman remained composed under pressure and used the ball well, while Darren Nguyen produced several outstanding goal-saving efforts that kept us in the contest. We now head to Kilburn this week looking to continue improving and turn these competitive performances into results.

Our first away game for our young team was a trip to Modbury in the wet… yuck. The Modbury boys were all up and about, with one of their own playing his 350th game — probably more games than our whole team has played combined, barring big Peter Jones. With the odds stacked against us, the boys went into the game with a lot of pride and gave an experienced team a real run for their money. We took a lot of positives out of the first term, putting points on the scoreboard and trailing by only a couple of goals. It continued throughout the game, with our ball users getting plenty of it and giving our forwards good looks at goal. Henrick Tucsok, Tom Kluska, and Alex Fav all managed to kick their first goals for the club. However, in the end, the scoreboard reflected a valiant effort against a very solid side. Alex Fav was dominant around the ground and is a prospect all the coaches will be keeping an eye on. Hugo Sutton continued his good form down back, being the backbone of the defence. Despite conceding 130 points, I’m sure that without him in the side, it could have been a lot worse. Alex Robinson dusted off the cobwebs in his first game of the season. Back to his very best and hungry for the football, his pressure around the ground helped us win plenty of 50/50 contests. We are back at home this week against Adelaide Uni with some major reinforcements, with intentions of getting our first win of the season