De La Salle vs Old Haileybury

Match Report

Similar to the Old Trinity match, DLS were overwhelmed in quarters 2 & 3 by a talented team, whose accurate disposals by both hand & foot, supplied their forwards with easier scoring opportunities!

Qtr : DLS opened kicking with a moderate breeze to the city end. Play was even with OH ruck strength apparent. Pat Russell, freed in a ruck contest on the forward flank goaled at the 5 minute mark. 6 minutes of tightly contested footy ensued before Curtis Day passed cleverly to Nathan Scollo in the forward pocket for DLS’s 2nd at the 11 minute mark. OH hit back soon after from a mark at full forward. DLS defense was holding up under constant pressure, despite OH kicking into a moderate breeze. A scramble at top of the gaol square gave Scollo the opportunity to kick DLS’s 3rd off the ground at the 15 minute mark. A long run out of defense by Day around the pavilion flank should have yielded a better outcome.  Sean Fisher’s pass to Scollo at CHF was perfectly placed & he secured his 3rd & DLS’s 4th at the 29 minute mark to give DLS a 17 point margin at the 1st break!

DLS 4.1=25 OH 1.2=8

Qtr2: OH established total control of the game. Now kicking with a strengthening wind, controlled the ball movement from all pack situations. OH goaled at the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 13th, &14th minute marks respectively. The DLS defense could not adequately cope with the surge of forward line entries, exacerbated by the quality of those entries. Seb Filipovic, who had been prominent during the deluge, marked on the HFF, after a good pass from Ryan O’Meara, secured a desperately goal at the 18 minute mark. DLS had restored some measure of game influence in the later part of Q2, but 2 missed set shot goals derailed, the come back to leave DLS down 14 points at half time. A 6 goals to 1 quarter, accurately summed up the performance of the sides!

DLS 5.3=33 OH 7.5=47

Qtr 3: As you would expect, DLS’s coach was not impressed with the performance, singling out the underperforming mids for particular attention! Hugh Nicholson clever snap out of a pack at half forward saw Scollo take a 3-bite mark in the goal square to kick his 4th & DLS’s 6th , at the 2 minute mark. From this point, OH re established total control of the game. DLS had no counter to OH’s swift, accurate ball movement & control around the packs. It was a no contest! OH goaled at the 8th, 11th, 15th, 21st, & 27th minute marks respectively, with the re emergence, regrettably of the 50 meter penalty problem!!

It is easy to be critical of the DLS defense breakdown, but I reckon they stood up to the most consistent, sustained pressure, reasonably well. 3 of our named best were from the defensive unit. Sure, they made mistakes, particularly below the knees in ball gathering, and dump clearance kicks, which only result in re entries. Another 5 goal to 1 quarter was not what the coaching panel & the team required, leaving DLS with a 40 point deficit at ¾ time.

DLS 6.4=40 OH 12.8=80

Qtr 4: The 3 quarter time address by Nick stressed the critical need to finish off this match positively! Players responded well! Intensity & RUN, missing for 2 quarters returned. Someone ( sorry I missed who it was) passed superbly to Lachie Gawel who goaled at the 3 minute mark. Confidence, missing for 2 quarters, returned with this goal. OH, obviously warned by their coach of an impending DLS response, dialled up if that were possible, their intensity. Nearly 11 minutes of close encounters ensued, during which Sean Fisher, moved to defense took 3 telling, contested marks. Obviously, players of both teams realised that despite the scoreboard differential, that the next goal was critical!

Scollo, marked strongly on the behind post but kicked his 5th anyway, at the 14 minute mark. DLS were on top! The running game returned! DLS got centre clearances, despite the erroneous umpire interpretations. Hugh Nicholson, roving the pack in the forward pocket, brilliantly, goaled at the 17 minute mark and the resurgence gained momentum! Curtis Day to Ryan O’Meara’s mark & goal at the 21 minute mark saw the deficit reduced to 20 points. Sean Fisher, up from defense, as all players were now on the DLS side of the centre, marked 50 meters out on the pavilion side, played on & goaled at the 23 minute mark to reduce the margin to 13 points! DLS coaches were desperately trying to get the players to clear out its forward line, as the fiercely contested packs were soaking up time!

Adrian Indovino, who had been well held all match, was freed for a high tackle in the forward pocket on a tight angle. His 1st goal reduced the margin to 1 point at the 24 minute mark. Although the ball was in the DLS scoring zone for the next 6 minutes, not a score could be registered. As so often happens in this situation, a long kick out of defense found an OH player goal side in the centre of the ground with only 1 DLS player, who had his own player to mind, between him & the goal. With a chasing DLS player unlikely to catch the running OH player, the lone DLS defender, left his man to try to catch the OH player closing in on the goal. A simple hand pass to the now unguarded OH player in the goal square, gave OH the match winning goal.

With the time clock at 31.32 Seb Filipovic kicked his 2nd to reduce the final margin to 7 points. A brave effort! DLS have now lost 2 games AT HOME by a total of 11 points ( 4 & 7) to quality Opposition in remarkably similar circumstances!