Around the Grounds

This weekend, our Juniors played the Round 5 wet weather catch-up games in glorious Winter sunshine. A number of teams were down players again with the school holidays and flu bugs flying around, however, it was great to see a number of our teams come away with some fantastic wins!

U8 Hornets

The Hornets were on the road this week to Bardon Latrobe to play against Team Extreme. It was a nice warm one with the game being played at 12:40pm and the Hornets called on super-sub Max from the U8 Bees to fill in as we were down to only 1 reserve with Ed & Attis away this week.

After the week off, the Hornets took a little while to get back into the gameplay, however, the spreading out across the field which we have been working on at training really paid off as the game progressed. The Hornets went into halftime 1-nil up after a concerted effort from Patty saw him score with 3 players attempting to defend him. Archie played goals in the first half and didn’t see too much action, as the Hornets were able to control the ball in the middle of the field and down in Bardon’s half.

The second half saw the Hornets really start to dominate the game with some fantastic dribbling (another training effort during the week) and team work passing to find the goals on a number of occasions. Max, Mika, Fitzy and Ned were the second-half goal scorers with Patty in goals and maintaining the clean sheet for the Hornets for the game.

Jasper & Harper were again solid in defence but also moved upfield throughout the game to take some nice runs and find their teammates with good passes. Cooper and Archie did a fantastic job in midfield, attacking throughout the middle third of the field and getting back to help in defence. A great team effort by all the boys!

Our U9 Brumbies Lily & Ruby handed out the Player of the Day Awards for the game, with Archie receiving the Kicken Chicken Award for his goalkeeping and non-stop running in the midfield, Patty taking the HJs award for his keeping and goal-scoring efforts, and Max taking the Zarraffas award for helping the Hornets out and scoring a few more goals in his second game of the day.

U8 Bees

This week saw the Bees off to Bardon for a game in the beautiful Qld sunshine for a change! The team played their hearts out and are improving so much each week. They have gained a lot of confidence and trust in each other and can let the ball go, knowing that their teammate will be there. Spreading out on the field and accurate passing to each other saw the Bees have an absolute magic game, defeating the opposition 13-1. Goals were scored by Beau (3), Max (5), Will (2) and Woody (3), but many wouldn’t have happened without exceptional teamwork.

The Coaches’ Player of the Day Awards went to Will for excellent positioning on corners at the far post, nice confidence this week to take the ball towards goal and shoot for some nice goals, and Woody – he had a sore leg, but played, and showed some nice control and direct running at goal for a couple of nice goals.

A post-game celebration was made extra special with a super donut cake for Archer’s birthday. Your friends loved celebrating with you Archer and we hope you had a great birthday during the week!!!

Another fantastic day was had by all!

U9 Dingoes

After a week off, the Dingoes were away to New Farm where the only thing harder than their pitch was trying to fight for a car park with the crowds heading to the markets. With three of the squad unavailable for the game, we were at a bare seven but eager for a hit out.

The week off was obviously needed as we uncharacteristically started the game quickly and dominated the play early. Some great forward play saw our attacking unit of Braxton, TJ, Jaxon and Toby pepper the New Farm goal only to be repelled by a strong opposition keeper playing beyond his years.

Our attacking plays were built from the back with Will leading from the goals and shutting down any opposition raids with Noah and Wilbur playing with hunger and working tirelessly in front bullying anyone trying to break our lines. There was only so much pressure the opposition could handle before Toby pressed and coolly slotted home to see us take the half up 1-0. A well-deserved break, quick team talk and changeover of our goalkeepers saw us back into the game. New Farm also changed tactics bringing out their keeper who was as equally talented with the ball at his feet as he was at saving goals.

Their plan of parking two defenders deep as protection and playing through their marquee looked dangerous but the Dingoes braved the pressure and countered with precision with another goal from Toby and a well-deserved goal to Jaxon seeing the Dingoes up 3-0 and looking good for the points. With 5 to go, the workload and strain of no subs started to creep in and even with some immense man marking from TJ and the fresh legs of Will unshackled from goal on the park, New Farm managed to seize some momentum and grab two late goals back. This led to a very exciting (and tense) final exchange with the Dingoes holding out for a well-earned 3-2 win away. All seven on the day deserved a shout-out, I was proud of their teamwork and drive to finish off strong.

This week’s Kicken Chicken Player of the Day went to Wilbur. A tenacious first half as our anchor at the back coupled with jumping in the sticks and trying his heart out made him a well-deserved recipient. Jaxon received the Zarraffas award for his grit and drive in the game. TJ ‘the Shadow’ received the Hungry Jacks award for his tireless display of man-marking and winning of the ball through the middle of the park.

Well done Dingoes!

U9 Brumbies

Another tough game for the Brumbies this week, but they played super well and managed another win!!

The girls played so well and showed lots of passing, teamwork and communication. Lucy and Emily both received the Player of the Day Awards with Lucy scoring 2 goals and Em scoring her first goal for the season.

We also had two girls from the U8’s team, Nadia and Ruby, play up to help us out with subs and they both loved it and received awards as well. The girls were so welcoming to the younger girls and played super well with them.

Keep up the hard work Brumbies!

U10 Wolves

The Wolves were on fire again this round up against the Grange Thistle Halkirks, coming away with an 8 – 0 victory! So far this season, the Wolves are 6 wins out of 8 with 47 goals scored and 12 conceded.

The entire team played exceptionally well, there were many highlights – Eli scored 4 goals, and Jack scored a goal straight off of an opposition goal kick. Thanks to Benson, from the U10 Wallabies, for filling in in defence.

Noah took the Player of the Day Award for dominating the midfield with speed and presence. He always gives 110%. Great work mate.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be facing the North Lakes team which is our biggest competitor, having lost 5 – 1 at the start of the season. But given the form the Wolves are in – we expect we can turn that around.

U10 Wallabies

The U10 Wallabies were up against Virginia United Kings in this week’s make-up game. The teams were very evenly matched from the outset. The Wallabies took the lead early with a great run up the line by Dash, which was finished off superbly by Eddie. There were plenty of shots at goal by Dash and Hudson, and a few from Lily as well, who was helping out as the Wallabies had a few players away. Near the end of the first half, Virginia scored two goals in quick succession, taking the score to 2-1 going into halftime.

After halftime, Virginia was quick to score again, the ball crossing the line after a valiant goal-saving effort by Dash. The Wallabies answered back with another goal from Eddie. There was lots of action at both ends of the field, with Ben, Sam and Benson doing excellent in defence; however, neither team were able to score again, making the final score 3-2 to Virginia.

The Player of the Day Awards went to Eddie for his 2 goals and Sam for stellar defending. Big thanks to Benson’s dad, Duncan, and Ben’s dad, Mark, for looking after the team in Brett’s absence. Also, a shout-out to U9 girls Ruby & Lily, and U8 boys Max & Patty who stood in for our players who were away this week. The young guys did an awesome job!

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U12 Warriors

This weekend saw our Warriors take on a very solid UQFC team. After missing training for a few weeks due to holidays, the Warriors put in a very solid effort to dust off the cobwebs and show again how much we are improving every week!

UQFC came away with the win on the day, but we are looking forward to our next game to keep on improving and getting some results into our squad.

The Player of the Day Award went to Marcus after a great defensive show where he saved us on multiple occasions with his stellar tackling and clearances.

A big shout out also to Jack and Tobi from the U12 Wanderers who filled in for us. Jack did an amazing job in goals, with Tobi showing great effort whenever he was on the pitch!