Match Report – U18’s vs Eagles Round 1

Round 1 saw us host Eagles at home. It’s always exciting to see what a new group can do on the opening day of the season. Our trial form had been mixed and there was good competition for spots which is what it should be like at this level.

Early in the game we defended reasonably well and had some opportunities to score but failed to capitalize. Late in the first quarter and then again into the second quarter the Eagles were able to get their style of play going well which exposed our new look team defence and lack of effort on multiple occasions allowing them to score consistently and easily.

Trailing by 51 points at the main break, we made a focus on improving an aspect of our team defence which showed some progress during the third quarter despite still getting scored against heavily. Offensively, unfortunately we couldn’t win enough one on one contests to move the ball into our forward third and generate scores.

We had quite a few scrambling clearances from stoppages and centre bounce from quarter time onwards and in the last quarter the forwards were able to convert some of these opportunities. Overall, we weren’t able to adapt to the opposition pressure and therefore couldn’t execute the fundamentals of the game well.

Oscar Talbot and Bailey White battled hard in defence while Carter Wright performed well after quarter time.

This week coming, we are at home again to battle North Adelaide who were impressive in our last trial game. We look forward to the challenge and will continue to work hard on the fundamentals of the game.

Best: Oscar Talbot, Bailey White, Carter Wright, Sam Burbridge, Padrick O’Donoghue

Goals: Harley Campbell, Xavier Mayes, Jonty Koehne, Jack Wilson, Jack Hutton (all 1 each)

Russell Godson

Talent Manager & U18 Coach