U16’s Match Report – Round 9

On Saturday our Under 16’s played the Sturt Football Club away at Thomas Farm Oval.

We came into the game against Sturt confident we had bridged the gap on the back of strong performances against North and Glenelg and held the belief we could compete against the top sides.

The first half was a strong contest between the two sides and the standard of football we displayed was excellent considering the dewy conditions experienced under foot from the early morning start. We take a 3-point lead into the half time break built upon good contest work and strong rebound from our back 50. If it was not for two last Red Time goals in the first and second quarters, we should go into the main break further in front.

Unfortunately, consistency has been our Achilles Heel and we produced one of the poorest and most uncompetitive efforts for the season after half time to have Sturt kick 9 goals to our 3 in the 3^rd quarter to trail by 32 points a 3-quarter time and ultimately was the difference between the sides as Sturt ran out 38-point winners. We failed to work, run, and support in their third terms and allowed to be dominated by a side who was to just hungrier for the contest and gain confidence and momentum when given too much space across all lines. As has been the case over the last three weeks we win most of key statistical categories but cannot secure the final score, which provides us with some data that we are on the developmental journey, and we continue to keep working at our craft and team cohesion for the week ahead.

Max Perin was awarded best a field from the wing and half back role, providing drive, relentless pressure and run accumulating 20 touches and kicking 2 goals in what was his best game for the club this year. Josh Wooldridge continues to go from strength to strength amassing 31 touches, 9 clearances 6 tackles to be the best midfielder on the day and Andrew Crispe was excellent across half back setting up many attacks and directing traffic to collect 24 touches and 8 marks.

This week we play under lights back at home versus South Adelaide on Friday night commencing at 5.00pm. This is the last game before we have a double weekend away from junior SANFL games to accommodate National Championships across the Under 16 and 18’s Competitions.

Best: Perin J. Wooldridge, A. Crispe, R. McAulay, E. Boey, D. Annese

Goals: Boey, J. Millar, M. Perin (2), N. Dessmann, T. Seager, L. Andriani (1)

U16’s Head Coach – Jeff Sochacki