Ando’s Match Report – Semi Final vs Eagles

As a group we approached the week not wanting it to be our last week together. This group has been together since last November. The mateship, the love they have for each other is amazing and we want to continue playing together for as long as we can.

Saturday saw us take on the Eagles for the 5^th time this season, with them all being tight contests.

It took us 5 minutes to settle into the game. We looked a little nervous and fumbly, Eagles kicked the first goal and tried to ruffle some feather by niggling big Oscar Steene. This was all the playing group needed to spark into gear, we stood tall and played our brand of footy giving us a slight lead at quarter time.

The 2nd quarter was very even in all stats, it was a back-and-forth battle on the scoreboard. During half time us coaches reiterated the excellent passages of play we had that troubled the opposition and encouraged the players to keep playing bold. It would’ve been nice to capitalise a bit more on the scoreboard to give us more of a lead that we deserved.

Coming into the second half we didn’t want a repeat of what occurred in the Qualifying Final where our footy wasn’t up to our standard. So the importance of being able to compete and have a hunger for the contest was going to be crucial.

After the Eagles kicked the first goal of the last quarter, we kicked a quick fire four goals to see us come away with the win and advance into a Preliminary Final.

The highlight of the game was watching the boys welcoming Tom Scully in for his first game. It was wonderful scenes on the day when Tom kicked his first goal.

Kobe Ryan again was prolific, finding plenty of the ball and using his smarts to set up plenty of good offence. Harvey Bock had a lockdown role down back and delivered again which shows why he’s the ultimate team man. Bailey Chamberlain and Luke Redfern gave us plenty of good drive and ability to break lines and open up the game which was important.

Having Isaac Johnson around the young guys has been extremely important over the last few weeks with his ability to educate in any situation.

An exciting week ahead playing in a Prelim Final, with the attitude we want to go all the way!

Thanks to everyone who came to support us on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you all at Adelaide Oval this Sunday cheering as loud as you can getting behind us as we look to take another step towards what we set out to achieve at the start of the season.

Best: Kobe Ryan, Tom Scully, Liam Delahunty, Nic Couroupis, Isaac Johnson

Goals: Tom Scully (2), Connor Fairlie, Clayton Gay, Michael Laudato, Harry Lemmey, Max Marslen, Kobe Ryan, Nick Steele

Reserves Coach, Ryan Anderson