UNDER 18s
The Western Lions – Uni 2011 premiership juggernaut continues to roll on in 2012 with a
comprehensive 54-10 victory in Round 1 of the TDRL.
The boys gifted their Centrals opponents an early 6 nil lead after an intercept, but from then on they gradually asserted their superiority via a big, strong forward pack lead by Craig Hollingsworth.
Coach Cookie (Jason Cook) and his faithful side kick Ron, were very pleased with the season start and can see a lot of improvement to come once the side settles into their combinations.
That’s an ominous warning to the rest of the the TDRL Under 18s considering the bucket load of tries scored by the outside backs, including: a brace of tries to both Moses Nelliman, who’s Dad was a member of the Uni Saints 1995 A Grade premiership team; and Clinton Conway. Not to be outdone, George Major not only led the side skillfully around the park from five eigth, but also managed a hat trick of tries.
Is it too early to talk about ‘Back to Back’. Time will tell.
RESERVE GRADE
2012 sees a lot of changes to the team that lost the 2011 Grand Final in a heart breaking result, but what hasnt change is their strength of character. A loss to Centrals by 30 points to 20 does not give justice to how bravely they played throughout the game.
Club stalwart, Adrian Doig has taken the reins of the ‘Reggies’ this season and he was equally as proud of his charges efforts, as he was frustrated by the Reserve Grade Coaches curse .. the last minute call ups to A Grade. “I am totally in favour of my boys being called up to A Grade,” mused Doigy after the game, “but, a little bit earlier than after the game has already started would be nice.”
Reserve grade captain and hooker, Shane Hackett stood out in the first 10 minutes of the game before being pulled to the bench after being a last minute A grade draftee. The FUGS at the bar were blowing up big time at the coaches for taking off one of the better players and their advice flowed faster than the beer, until they were given the good oil by a club official and they all sighed in unison, “that’s the life of a Reserve Grade coach.”
Despite that, the Reggies only had themselves to blame for all the defending they had to do during the game. Poor respect for ball possession saw them camped on their line for a majority of the first half and they almost tackled themselves to a stand still … almost. Almost, because they never did stop and kept coming off their line in an effort that drew widespread admiration from even the hill hecklers.
An outstanding defensive effort by light weight seond rower, Jack Wilson, helped keep the reggies in the game and some excellent hole running by his second row partner, Jarrod Stevens, saw them finally draw level with Centrals at 20 all with only 4 minutes left to play. Unfortunately, a dropped ball from the kick off gifted Centrals with prime field position and a try ensued in the next set of six.
Never ones to throw in the towel, they threw caution to the wind in the final minute to try and regain possession and try and force an unlikely draw, however, the ineveitable result was another Centrals try on the buzzer.
From a team chocker block full of willing workers, good things are expected in 2012, providing Doigy is allowed to keep the team that he writes on the team sheet.
A GRADE
In 2011 the A Grade had a heart breaking 2 point loss in the first round of the TDRL and then seemed to be playing catch up for the rest of the season. That wont be the case in 2012 after a strong 30-14 win over Centrals in the first round of 2012.
Two second half tries by new recruit, PJ Hart, showed that the Club had not only signed some talent but also speed, as he ran the length of the field for both of them with Centrals fastest in hot pursuit. One of those was as the full time buzzer blew to signal that the Saints had commenced the long march for 2012.
However, to fully appreciate the substance of the victory, we need to rewind the clock back about three hours to just as the reserve grade game was starting. Thats when coach Tony Martin (Marto) received the phone call from starting hooker, Mitch Barnes, to say that he was suffering from food poisoning, and had to pull out of the side. Marto had been dealt a raw prawn, after it appears that Mitch had already eaten it the night before. Straws were drawn to see who would go and tell Doigy that A Grade needed his reserve grade captain, Shane Hackett to fill the role. Which he did admirably by the way, providing excellent distribution from dummy half.
All this led to a first half that was full of what nightmares are made of. Scary big baddies which made up the Centrals forward pack, and a threatening opposition back line that easily ran slick first man decoy, second man plays which resulted in two early tries and ominous signs of a massacre not inflicted by a chainsaw, but an opposition runnning knife edge plays.
After the initial shock of the loss of their starting hooker and then two quick Centrals tries, The Saints finally knuckled down to the task and took some heart at half time from a scoreline that read only 14 – 6 against them, when it could have been a lot worse. Half time gave Marto time to calm his troops and get them to focus back on the basics.
Better ball control and a more compressed defence is what Marto asked for. “I just felt that the boys were struggling with the Centrals sweeping back line movements because they were too soft in the middle of the ruck” is how Marto explained it after the game. “I explained to them at half time, that if they compressed a bit more at the ruck, then that would stop centrals making easy yards up the middle and also allow our sliding defence to better react to their decoy runners and identify the ball receivers.” That’s why we pay him the big bucks folks, because it turned out he was spot on.
Further attempts by Centrals in the second half to copy the firsts half movements were met with more resolute defence and by 15 minutes into the socond half, The Saints led 24-14. They maintained discipline until the final minutes while Centrals became more and more frustrated and scrappy.
The game also saw a great debut by another new recruit, Nathaniel Bowman, who constantly weaved and jinked to create numerous opportunties both out wide and through the middle. Equally as impressive was rookie, Jake McManus an Under 18 from 2011 who looks to make his mark in A Grade in 2012 at the back of the scrum.
At the end of the night, the Committee breathed a sigh of relief noting that once again, they must being doing a lot of things right and hard work will always be rewarded and the FUGS agreed that the beer was cold and the result was RED HOT!
