Old Carey v De La Salle

Match Report

A sleep in and some prime time afternoon football for the first time in 2023 for the guns as we ventured out to Bulleen to take on Old Carey at the Carey Sports grounds.

To say the facilities were inadequate is probably being kind.. We had to share a changeroom with the Old Hailebury Under 19 team who were playing on the adjacent ground and thanks to Michelle and Grace we were able to land access to a gazebo as a changeroom.

Then there was the ground itself, the first I have seen had senior football played on it where there was no visible ‘50m arc’ because the ground was so small.

Putting all of that aside, the Guns were looking for a fourth consecutive victory for the season against tough opposition.

Unsurprisingly on that size ground, the game was incredibly tough and contested in the opening stages, until one of our newest recruits Ellie ‘Harp’ Poon broke the deadlock on her lethal left boot!

Carey were able to answer quite quickly and even the scores through their full forward who would prove a handful throughout the game. They were the two goals in the opening quarter and as we went there was more evidence of us showing the style of play we want to put out on the park.

Our opposition was an incredibly experienced team and quite a powerful team, challenging our young midfield. Once again through the middle of the ground we ran a large part of the game with 6 or 7 midfielders all under the age of 21. They matched the opposition for large parts of the game, our strength was going to be in the open space, whilst there’s was in the tight confines, so the dimensions of the ground worked in their favour.

We went into the half time break trailing by 10 points but still confident we could challenge them through the second half. The third quarter became a grind, with Carey starting to overpower us through the middle of the ground and being able to get plenty of opportunities forward of the ball. Both teams had two scoring shots for the third quarter but we kicked 2 points to their 2 goals which opened the game up and made a final quarter comeback challenging.

The final quarter was pretty stop start with minimal free play, both teams were well matched and refusing to give an inch. We managed to get multiple entries in our forward line and with some dangerous players in our forward half, we got the reward that we were looking for through our rising star in Maddy ‘SOX’ Bamert. It drew us closer but we weren’t able to get any closer as Carey managed to get another goal back.

A late moment saw one of our young stars Poppy Palma ‘picked off’ with an old fashioned hip and shoulder through the middle of the ground, something that many of Poppy’s teammates took exception to, prepared to look after their teammate which has happened on multiple occasions through the season which has been frustrating, but it is great to see the support that her more experienced teammates have given her, it says a lot about the group of people we have representing our club here.

On a sour note in the final quarter, we lost our fearless runner ‘the Jenerator’ Jen Males with a shoulder injury. We have our fingers crossed that it isn’t too serious, but once again the support she received from her teammates to ensure she got to the hospital and was looked after is another example of the group we have.

We are very very excited to take on Old Carey later on in the season on a bigger ground at Waverley Oval! At the half way mark of the season we are 5th on the table eyeing a spot in the finals, it has been a great start and we are looking forward to what is coming after the break!