Match Report

Round One

Under-14 Blue, Bulleen-Templestowe 12.9 (81) d FJFC 6.8
(44) at Bulleen Park, Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sharp wind, skidding dark clouds, bursts of rain - must be the footy season! Sure enough, the first round of the season coincided with what felt like the arrival of winter, rather than the end of a summer that seemed to have stretch ed so far back in to the last decade. And it took the boys a fair while to get warmed up. Bulleen was first out of the blocks and had kicked a goal and a beh ind before the Roys laid hand on leather. Still, the wind and the slope were against them.
Richard was back in charge and the unit from '09 was pretty much intact, except for Ned and Hugh who had gone up to the Golds. But this team had picked up a couple of excellent recruits - Lochie and Luke, who showed dash and flair. So for Ned and Hugh who had gone up to the Golds. But this team had picked up a couple of excellent recruits - Lochie and Luke, who showed dash and flair. So after a few minutes the Roys started to show something, and a battery of behinds were racked up before Charlie marked and ran on to Connor who passed to Josh in the square for the first major of the season.

It's always good to get on the board and after the first quarter, despite a disappointingly low number of possessions, the Roys were buoyant at the prospect of having the wind in the second. But Bulleen was better at working in to space and they managed to keep possession while the Roys struggled to pick up the footy. Within a blink Bullen had added two goals to shoot to a commanding lead . Wiz, who had an excellent first half, snapped the Roys second and Mu added another but the gap had grown to 26 points at the main break.

It was hard work after half-time, although it looked promising when Charlie worked the ball to Patrick, who fed it off to Josh, who then gave it to Wiz for a goal, Max was working at creating opportunities in the forward line and in an inspired tackle held the ball up long enough for Wiz to swoop and kick another. Inspired, Andre ran beautifully off the backline and sent some piercing n an inspired tackle held the ball up long enough for Wiz to swoop and kick another. Inspired, Andre ran beautifully off the backline and sent some piercing handballs forward and Luke helped engineer a gang-tackle that slowed down Bull een's relentless progress. Yet there was a 29-point gap coming in to the final quarter.

Digby tried to life the team with an inspired chase that brought down his opponent and resulted in an accidental blow to the head as they fell to the ground. Not even a free kick could ease Diggers' pain. The boys finally found a bit of space and Lochie helped set up a couple of moves that led to behinds. When Jaquan managed to win the contested ball, he found Connor who was able to give it off to Mu for the Roys's sixth. But the scoreboard told the story - Bulleen had kicked a dozen majors, and had dominated the game. The Roy Boys were a bit rusty.