U16’s Match Report – Round 4 vs Central District

Amongst the excitement of Gather Round, round 4 of the SANFL U16 Competition saw us take on Central District at home in an unfamiliar Saturday morning timeslot. We started the match well once again and played the type of football we are hoping to play more consistently as the season progresses. Some execution errors limited our ability to put meaningful scoreboard pressure on our opposition early but we were pleased with the intent and brand of football that was displayed.

As the match progressed beyond the quarter time break we were faced with a familiar story. Our opposition came out with more intent around the ball and we began to fall into some rudimentary habits of poor decision and ball use impacting our ability to advance the ball into our front half and play the game on our terms.

The half time break was welcomed and gave us an opportunity to make some adjustments and reinforce the game style we wanted to execute. Centrals had begun to build some ruck and clearance dominance over us after quarter time and our midfield group were challenged to lift their competitiveness.

The second half saw a goal for goal affair with Centrals scoring well from kick ins and stoppage while we were doing most of our work from turnover. For every score we managed to kick they got to work from the kick in or ensuing centre bounce and we were unable to build any momentum. Missed opportunities saw us enter the final break with an even scoreline of 7.11 to 8.5 and a real test to see how we would respond over the final 23 minutes.

The message at 3/4 time was to keep playing our way and we would begin to convert the opportunities we were creating. To the players credit they stuck to the process and were able to finish with a strong final quarter performance of 5.2 giving us a 20 point victory.

We take on a new opponent in South Adelaide this week on an oval that can bring many teams undone. We continue to strive to put together a full 4 quarter performance and will be working hard to fix our 2^nd quarter efforts that have troubled us over the previous 3 matches.