Round 17 Underage Reports

Round 16 against Centrals was a hard-fought game that went all the way down to the final minute.

With the college season starting back and five of our players being called up to play reserves, we made 10 changes going into the game. The Bulldogs led at the first break with three goals to two and we went into halftime down four goals one behind, to the Bulldogs inaccurate five goals, ten behinds.

In the third quarter, we were able to wrestle the momentum back as we kicked four goals to Central’s one. We were able to maintain the lead up until the final minute of the game when the Bulldogs marked the ball 60m from goal and were awarded a 25m advantage after one of our players moved off the mark.

An unfortunate result and a wake-up call for our players who have had slow starts in the previous two weeks.

Upon being moved to the forward line in the second half, Caleb Barton provided an excellent aerial presence and kicked three goals. Thomas Turner kicked two goals in his first game for the club. Taj Rahui was awarded our best player with 17 disposals, one goal and seven tackles. Riley Verrall also contributed well with 28 disposals, one goal and three marks.

 SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD: 2.0 4.1 8.2 10.3 (63)

 CENTRALS: 3.5 5.10 6.11 9.13 (67)

GOALS: Barton 3, Turner 2, Mu, Rahui, Starick, Tape, Verrall

BEST: T. Rahui, R. Verrall, C. Barton, D. Pitt, O. Sellen

After a week off we returned to The Parade to take on the Bulldogs. We have had two interesting games against the Dogs this year and this game was going to be no different with 18 changes.

As well as our local players, we also welcomed Josh Butterworth and Jonty Thompson across from the EP for their first U/16 game of the year. In total, seven players from the EP made the trip.

The game started slowly for us with the Dogs kicking two goals in two mins. We thought this may happen and it might take some time to settle due to making 18 changes from the previous game. To the boys credit, they gained back some momentum but Centrals kicking one on the siren hurt after a pretty even first quarter.

The second and third quarters were both even contests other than once again Central kicking goals on the siren of each quarter. Going into the fourth we were three goals down, it just so happened to be the goals on each quarter were the difference. I felt Centrals were on top of us in the clearances and probably one or two of their main players were more polished than us going forward.

The first 15 minutes was an arm wrestle and to the boy’s credit they did not give up, but in the end their concentration level just fell away to make the difference 40-points. We felt the game was closer than what the score reflected.

The pleasing note was to see the form of Luke Scott down back with 35 touches as well as Joel Flower returning and was outstanding across half back. Daniel Hewitt played his best game for the year, and our always consistent performer Riley Kirchhofer stood up playing in a new role as a midfielder.

SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD: 1.3 3.3 6.6 6.7 (43)

CENTRALS: 3.2 6.4 9.8 12.11 (83)

GOALS: Mustaca 2, Petersen, Turner, Washington, Wood

BEST: Luke Scott, Riley Kirchhofer, Anthony Mustaca, Joel Flower, Daniel Hewitt