U16’s Match Report – Round 8

On Tuesday Night our Under 16’s played the top of the ladder North Adelaide under lights at Hisense Areana. With all players across the competition available our lads were keen to see if their preparation leading into this, we had closed the gap in being able to compete against one of the best teams in the league.

As has been the case for us for the last four weeks we have really tried to focus on making a good start in our first quarter as we have been left often chasing a deficit at quarter time. To the boy’s credit we started well kicking 4 goals to the Roosters 2 in the first term. We took a 13-point lead into the quarter time break built upon strong contested work and decisive ball movement making it difficult for our opposition to defend. It was pleasing to be able to impact the scoreboard and get reward for effort. The second quarter was a much tighter contest with both sides going goal for goal. North kicked a very late red time goal to take a 1-point lead into the half time break. A key message to our boys at the main break was to stay in the contest, by continuing to work hard at our structures, stay connected across our lines, keep our shape, and focus hard on staying composed when the ball was in dispute to execute the fundamentals.

Unfortunately, the first 15 minutes of the second half it was all North as they built a handy 19-point buffer 15-minutes into the 3^rd quarter. It was looking like North were about to run away with the contest. However, our boys are nothing but resilient and determined to be up for the fight and great goal by Angus Hooper towards the end of the 3^rd Quarter and another by Ryan McAulay early in the 4^th saw us only 4 points down with 15 minutes to play. The message going into the final term was to chase the game and our boys certainly did that, applying supreme forward pressure and locking the ball in our forward 50 for a lengthy period of the fourth quarter creating chances but, we could find can the elusive killer blow. North kicks a goal against the run of play and there is not a goal kicked for the last ten minutes for the final quarter which was testament to the pressure and intensity of the game throughout the night and the Roosters run out 11 point winners.

Tuesday night’s performance instilled a lot of belief into our squad that we are on the right track, and we can compete against the best sides in the competition for extended periods of time. With a continued focus on our fundamentals which at critical moments on Tuesday night cost us both defensively and offensively we have clear focus and plan on what we want improve work towards over the coming weeks.

Josh Wooldridge was a standout performer for the Under 16’s amassing 27 disposals, 7 marks, 9 tackles, 7 clearances and a goal to be best a field. Our appointed leaders Daniel Annese 28 disposals, Ryan McAulay 27 disposals were also fantastic contributors, along with Tain Scott and Under 15 Andrew Crispe who are both building strong consistent form in the games played so far.

This week we have a weekend free with no SANFL games scheduled until our next fixture against Sturt on Saturday June 1^st at Thomas Farms Oval at 10.00am.

Best: Wooldridge, D. Annese, R McAulay, T. Scott, A. Crispe

Goals: Dessmann 2, C. Bradford, H. Cummings, A. Hooper, H. Hutton, R. McAulay, J. Wooldridge