Under 16s Coaches Report

Under 16s Coaches Report

Round 5, West v North, City Mazda Stadium, Saturday April 6th

The U16’s faced their biggest challenger in North Adelaide who were sitting 2^nd on the ladder and the only true threat of taking top spot from us. We made 9 changes to the team from the week before and faced North without our captain Connor Blackwell (injured) and numerous others but knew we had enough quality personnel coming in.

The first quarter was a sensational display of team football with us absorbing the early pressure applied by North and then proceeding to run, carry and share the football scoring 6.4 to 0.1 and setting us up for the game

The 2^nd quarter was more even and to North’s credit they didn’t allow us to completely run away with the game and some poor forward entries and missed opportunities saw us go into the half time break 8.8 to 2.2 scoring 2.4 to Norths 2.1 for the quarter. We were 36+ with contested possession and with 35 inside 50’s to North’s 12, probably could have been more in front.

Half time saw us move some players into some different roles which unfortunately unsettled the team and we allowed North a run on, scoring 4 goals to our 1 in 14 minutes of play. We reverted back to our original starting line up and the boys settled quickly kicking 4 goals in 6 minutes to finish the quarter 13.10 to 6.3.

The 4^th quarter was a solid one with us kicking a further 3 goals to North’s 2 and winning by a convincing 54 points. This was the 3^rd time in 5 games this u16’s team had kicked over 100 points for a game with no other team in this league doing so in any of the other matches played so far this season.

It again was a complete team effort with us able to throw a blanket over 10 or more best players.

Jack McArdle (23 poss. 1 goal) and playing centre half back and moving forward was probably our best with Nadim Oueiss carrying our rucks almost single handedly for the game and Tyson Coe again was excellent (22 poss and 15 contested). The usual culprits in Pridham (28 poss and 2.0) , Faulkner (22 and 2 goals) , Kennedy (20 poss and 1.2) , Desira (19 poss.), Young (18 poss. and 2.2) all played well adding in Thomson (19 poss) , Gacic (3 goals) and Woods (17 poss and 1 goal).

This places us 5 wins and 0 loses with a strong percentage on top of the ladder and baring a miracle ensuring us top place on the ladder with 2 rounds to go. We can now control our player management leading into the final 2 rounds being played over 5 days, Central Districts on Saturday followed by the Eagles on Easter Thursday evening before we enter finals 9 days later.

Outs: Connor Blackwell, Jed Obst, Aiden Courtney, Charlton Manning, Macx Teague,

David Yem, Kooper Pethers, Fraser Bone, Jock van Kempen

Ins: Henry Simpson, Aston Woods, Ben Burbridge, Nadim Oueiss, Jackson Roberts, David Reardon, Liam Bennetts, Peter Paech, Samuel Matters,

Final scores: West 16.12 – 108 to North 8.6 – 54

Best players: Jack McArdle, Nadim Oueiss, Tyson Coe, Hugh Desira, Charlie Pridham, Nik Gacic

Goal Kickers: Gacic 3, Faulkner 2, Pridham 2, Simpson 2, Young 2, Hahn, Kennedy, Sgori, Woods, McArdle 1.