U17 Report
Round 15 Coach’s Match Report U17s St Kilda City v Mossgiel Park 3.8.08
St K City 4.2.26 11.5.71 15.9.99 18.12.120
Mossgiel Pk 0.4.4 1.7.13 3.12.30 4.14.38
Goals: Declan Harrington 7.3, Zio Holdinghausen 3.1, Jack Purton-Smith 2.1, Sam McPhee 2.0, Chris Wilson 2.0, Hicham Nidam 1.2, Adam Adamos 1.1.
Best: Harrington, Nidam, Jack Belkin, Holdinghausen, Vadim Lomaz, Purton-Smith, McPhee, Linden Erlichman-Gross, Adamos, Gavin Phillips.
Score Assists: Nidam 5, Harrington 4, James Gray 2, Holdinghausen 2, Luke Mance 2, Purton-Smith 2, Wilson 2, Ryan Lewis 1, Jai McKenzie 1, McPhee 1.
Mossgiel Park began the game in an attacking frame of mind and had more forward entries than us in the 1st term, but a combination of our disciplined play up forward & great pressure down back gave us a handy quarter time lead. There was a strong breeze going across the ground and to their credit, the boys followed instructions to the letter by centering the ball whenever we went forward. Declan Harrington was the main beneficiary of this, kicking 3 goals from virtually directly in front. Jack Purton-Smith and Hicham Nidam provided the impetus for us in the middle while Jack Belkin stopped everything in the backline. Vadim Lomaz put his hand up to stop the league’s leading goalkicker and did well to not only keep him quiet, but provide drive with his great vision & skills.
In the 2nd term we took a real stranglehold on the game, kicking 7 goals to 1. Zio Holdinghausen dominated in the centre alongside Hicham, while Jack Belkin took his game to another level with some superb spoils and offensive runs from defence. Sam McPhee helped blow the game open with 2 goals in a minute and regular defender Chris Wilson went forward to kick 2 goals. Gavin Phillips played loose in the backline, cutting off many opposition attacks and Vadim again won the important one on one duels. Dylan Lintermans, Ryan Lewis, Jai McKenzie and Stefan Moon teamed brilliantly, their communication and ability to work their way out of trouble with composure made it almost impossible for Mossgiel Park to score.
Considering they were 10 goals down with 2 quarters left to play in their season, Mossgiel Park did well to be competitive in the 2nd half. However, they still struggled to score goals from their forward entries due to the above mentioned backline players consistently putting their opponents under pressure. Hicham’s agility made him almost impossible to tackle and his workrate earned him an enormous amount of possessions. Declan continued his field day, being involved in 6 of our 8 scores for the term, including every goal. Gavin got more & more of the ball as the game wore on and Adam Adamos made good positioning, won his man on man contests and used the ball well. David McNaughton shared the ruck duties with J. Belkin and worked hard all day, taking some great marks.
With a 70 point lead at ¾ time, you could have forgiven the team for cruising to an easy win, but at no stage did the boys let up, with some fantastic tackling in the final term. The rain came down with 15 minutes to go and subsequently the skill levels dropped and the game slowed down. However we were able to consistently win the stoppages and had more inside 50s in the last term than any other. The wet ball however made it more difficult to capitalize on our dominance, but Declan, J. Belkin & Hicham again were brilliant. Jack P-S and Gavin both completed good games while Vadim fulfilled his end of the deal with a superb performance at full-back.
Our 2 biggest wins for the season in the last 2 rounds gives us the perfect platform to be competitive in the finals. Our goal as a team at the start of the season was to make the Grand Final and obviously once we’re there to win it. Our ability to work as a team has grown tremendously over the course of the season and now the most exciting challenges lay before us…
Highlights
· In the 1st ¼ Vadim set the tone by spoiling his man’s marking attempt, then winning a contested ground possession. He kicked long to Jack P-S in the middle of the ground who found Adam with a short kick. Adam handballed to Luke who chipped the ball to Hicham who marked and played on to kick a great team goal
· In the 2nd term, Mossgiel Park kicked the ball out from a behind towards the half-forward boundary. Sam McPhee read it well to intercept the kick, then snap a great goal. Within 30 seconds he was in a marking contest, knocking the ball to ground where James Gray picked it up. Sam ran forward to receive the handball then steadied to kick his 2nd goal in a minute
· The discipline of every player in the team to fulfil their role in the side was outstanding. Some great spoils, shepherds, tackles and the best use of voice in any game this year
