Around the Grounds

Fingers and toes were crossed Friday evening that games would be on with the pending weather forecast and not another wash-out for the season! In the end, the rain held off – at least at Westside – to get our U6 to U9 games in. Other teams on the road were not so lucky having to play their games in the rain – but at least the kids still got to get out and enjoy their time on the field!

U6 Tigers

It was an excellent game from all players this week with some fantastic defence from Victor and some great runs and an epic goal from Felix seeing them take home the Player of the Day awards for their efforts!!

It’s great to see how much the boys are enjoying playing and seeing their understanding of the game and skills improving each week.

We didn’t take the win this week but the sportsmanship, teamwork and friendship stand firm for the Tigers!!

Bring on next week!!

U7 Geckos

This week’s match saw the U7 Geckos play against Mitchies’ Melbourne Team. It was a slow start to the game and Mitchie slowly worked into the match with some strong defence and attacking runs up the field and plenty of shots of goal.

The second half saw the Geckos start playing together as a team with better passing between teammates and cutting off the ball in defence. Some nice goals were scored by the Geckos following strong runs up the field from Lucas and Bailey.

A successful win for Geckos!

U8 Bees

The Bees were home at their hive under wet drizzly conditions against Bardon. Woody handed over the goal keeper jersey rather quickly, deciding muddy tackles with white socks would be his thing today! James kindly volunteered.

The Bees started well, camped in Bardon’s half with plenty of throw-ins and corners – but no early goal. Max shot high & wide, Woody came close in front as Bardon threw all their defenders back. Eddie & Ollie provided nice quick throw-ins down the line. Any breaks Bardon did get were shut down by Harrison & Will who distributed the ball wide to Beau & Max.

Finally, a corner from our favourite corner training spot, no curly wurly bar up for grabs this time, but muscle memory kicked in for Max who curled it nicely into a well-positioned Beau who touched it in for our first goal.

1-nil it stayed as the boys came off. James showed great team spirit to console his over-tired upset teammate Archer at halftime whilst the team recharged with watermelon & oranges.

James continued in goal for the second half and was immediately under pressure from a few corners. But there would be no second-half fade-out this week for the Bees as they buzzed in attack & defended with a sting. Eddie’s shot was saved, Max set up Will who shot wide, and Max shot close into the side net before Ollie had a breakaway one-on-one with the Bardon keeper.. the crowd was cheering, coach eagerly watched.. but the Bardon keeper came out to narrow the angle & deny Ollie’s shot. Despite all the chances the Bees were still only 1-nil up with 5 minutes to go..

The crowd was unable to watch as fatigue & tension built.. How many minutes to go? I can’t watch this anymore. Said, nervous parents.

So it was a great relief for Bee supporters’ heart rates when the final whistle blew.

In the end, the Bees deserved their win against a brave Bardon outfit who took some kicks to the shin, and balls to the head and didn’t give up.

Player of the Day awards this week went to:

James – great volunteer for keeper duties, clean sheet, and thoughtfully consoling his upset teammate at halftime.

Beau – great runs up front, some nice touches and excellent positioning to finish his mates curling corner.

U8 Hornets

The Hornets took on the Bardon Team Extreme this week at home and were looking to get on the pitch after over half the team missed training due to illness this week.

Thankfully the rain stayed away for most of the match and the Hornets played one of their best matches in terms of teamwork.

They spread out wide across the field and worked the ball well out from their goals with nice passing and dribbling. There were a number of shots on goal by the Hornets in the first half, however, the Bardon keeper was on his game, keeping out the majority of shots. Patty was able to score a long-range effort over the keeper’s head to take the Hornets into the half-time break 1-nil up.

Our rock-solid defender Jasper turned up this week with a sleek new hairstyle and wanted to play up-front. He made some dazzling dribbling efforts and was unlucky not to score a goal. Both Jasper and Edgar did great in goals this game, not letting one past them and maintaining a clean sheet.

Harper was all over the field and scored his first goal of the season, and Fitzy finished off the treble to give the Hornets a 3-nil win in the end. Mika, Cooper and Attis also had great games, providing support to their teammates in attack and maintaining a solid defensive line.

All the boys played their hearts out and it was a great effort. HJs Player of the Day awards went to Harper for his running efforts and great goal and Ned for his non-stop running all game. This week’s ‘Kickin Chicken’ Player of the Day award went to Patty for his all-round solid game.

U9 Dingoes

Last Saturday saw the Dingoes at home hosting UQFC’s Lions and a chance to track our progress from Round 1’s away meeting, where we were found wanting.

Unfortunately, UQ found themselves short of players due to illness and injuries, so up stepped Patty from our Westside Hornets U8’s team to help out and round out their squad.

It was a back and forward affair, UQ were very organised with bodies behind the ball and it would take some work to break them down.

Will was strong in goals, shutting down anything in the box and putting his body on the line where needed.

Leo and Noah have built a strong connection in defence this season and helped stop any attacking raids in our half.

The battle in the midfield with TJ, Jax, Magnus and Toby raged on throughout the match with Max and Brax offering targets up top and causing trouble for the opposition.

It took some great interplay and dogged determination to break the deadlock with Toby scoring a brace and putting some space behind him on the run for our golden boot this season.

The game finished at 2-1 to the Dingoes and although close in score, the Dingoes were well in control for the majority and unlucky not to have bagged more goals.

This week’s ‘Kickin Chicken’ Player of the Day and Training Award went to Toby. His change in attitude and drive to do better was on show and should be proud of his effort.

Leo received the Zarraffas Award for the week prior for his continual improvement and positive attitude.

Well done Dingoes!

U9 Brumbies

Another win for the Brumbies!! This weekend the girls travelled to Virginia for a very rainy game.

We, unfortunately, had no subs this week but the girls persevered and adapted well to having no subs and changing positions throughout the match.

The girls even managed to put away 7 awesome goals set up well by lots of awesome passing and teamwork.

Our goal scorers of the week were Lily, Ruby, Chloe and Quinn.

Players of the Day this week went to Chloe and Freya for showing lots of awesome teamwork.

All of the girls are improving so much each week and are making the coaches and their parents very proud!

U10 Wolves

The Wolves faced their biggest challenge of the season yet, with back-to-back away games at North Lakes, by far the best club in our division this season.

Round 14 saw us take on the Lakes Wallaby Blue team. It was a good day at the office with the Wolves coming away with a 6 – 0 win. Teo and Eli with 2, Finn and Noah with 1 each.

It was a great overall performance, with Teo and Dex taking the Player of the Day honours. Dexter was playing great long balls from right back and Teo was converting from the right wing. Great result!…

We missed last week’s newsletter when we came up against the North Lakes Mustangs Chargers in Round 13, who we lost to 5 – 1 at the start of the season.

It was an awesome display with both teams pressing really hard, it was end-to-end action and both goalkeepers performed exceptionally well.

The Wolves must have created 10+ chances in front of the goal, but we couldn’t find the back of the net. The end result was a 2 – 0 loss. Landon took out the Player of the Day Award making awesome saves throughout the game!

So for the season we have now played 12, won 9, lost 3, and scored 73 goals

U12 Warriors

The Warriors had the late game this Round with a 2:15pm game over the hill at Bardon Latrobe. The drizzle had set in thoughout the morning, however the kids were still to get out and play.

Coaches Matt & Harry were playing in their Seniors match before the Warriors game and the kids were lucky enough to see the first half of the game where Westside put on a show and scored a number of goals. Westside eventually won the game 10-nil so the Coaches were hoping some of this confidence would rub off on the Warriors.

With the Coaches being unable to start the Warriors game, we had caretaker Coach Theon this week. The last game at home against Bardon was an evenly fought match, with the Warriors only going down by a goal or two, so they were looking to get one back on the road.

The Warriors took an early lead in the game with some nice passing and finishing, however it wasn’t long before Bardon pegged it back to make it 1-all.

The Warriors went into the match with only one sub – Eli from the U10 Wolves – who was not out of place on the field and played a fine match!

In the end, even though there was some valiant keeping efforts from both Arlen and Eva in goals, Bardon scored a couple at the back end of the match to run away with the win.

There were some solid performances through-out the entire match, especially from Sam G, Sam P and Nox in the middle. Rhys attacked well as always and Savash played well in both attack and defence. Dash and Jack also defended really well on the edge with Eva and Arlen calling the shots from central defence.

Player of the Day awards went to Nox and Jack for their efforts this week!