Despite heavy rain on Friday night, the sun was out on Saturday morning as the Blues opened the day at Waverley Oval.
Across all 3 Under 19 teams we were a little short on numbers, meaning the boys would run out with only 20 players to take on the Old Melburnians.
Some great news during the week with our favourite twins Tom & Seb Filipovic making their senior debuts, justification for a lot of hard work from both boys. This among other factors allowed other players to take on greater responsibility.
Despite a slow start, giving up the first goal of the game, there was no cause for panic as the boys began to get on top and show off some of their best work against lower ranked opponents. A couple of early goals to Brett Boscacci helped set the tone, as our midfield got on top.
We went into the half time break with a comfortable lead but knowing that we had some better footy in us, there were glimpses of what we were trying to do, we were just making mistakes with the ball in our hands.
The third quarter was a big quarter for us as we completely broke the back of the OM’s. Tom Robinson was a presence inside forward 50 and pushing up the ground, Ethan Manakis was the dominant ruck on the ground and our runners on the outside led by Campbell Bedford were doing some brilliant work both in offense and defence. A goal to Jonty Wiseman at the end of the third capped off a great third quarter, giving us a 10 goal 3/4-time lead.
An injury to Lucas Liakakos who had already kicked 3 goals to 3/4 time meant we had 1 left on the bench to run the last quarter out. The OM’s made the most of the increasing breeze and got on top in the last quarter to bring the margin back without ever challenging the final result.
With a number of players to filter back into the 19s over the next couple of weeks we will continue to build on the promising start to the season that we have made. We are looking forward now to a big challenge next week against the Caulfield Grammarians at Glenhuntly Oval before a big home triple header at Waverley Oval culminating in the Blues clash with St Kevin’s, marking the first of our Under 19 parent functions, one we hope to get plenty of support for!
Congrats to all involved in the football club for a great weekend of results, hopefully the momentum continues to build from here.
