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Caulfield  14.15.99     Defeated     Kew  14.7.91

 

Third of the way through the home and away fixture; wow how quickly has that time flown? A sign of one’s advancing years I suspect! I should have known better than to accept a Friday night dinner invitation before checking the fixture and then I would not have missed the U19’s game under lights at Elsternwick. What a win by the boys, under the temporary guidance of Corey Lovell, regular ‘board man’ for the senior team and deputising for Josh. Defeating the previously undefeated Old Melburnians was a superb effort, consolidating the position in the top four. I often bang on about the importance of the Reserves’ teams but make no mistake, the impact of a flourishing ‘junior’ team is also critical when a Club plans for a return to higher levels.

It’s been a long time since CGFC ventured to Kew’s home ground and even our venerable and dedicated supporter, Graham Shaw, was not certain of when CGFC last visited Kew’s home ground. I should also have asked one of David Lauritz or David Kendall, both of whom were in attendance as they usually are rain, hail or shine. The continued support of these three gentlemen cannot be overstated. All three are part of proud Caulfield Grammar family connections and I hasten to add, never failed to support the club during the challenging years. 

The Reserves were a bit slow early with the wind but rallied, played very well and won by 5 goals with a number of young guns firing, just what we want to see. The ‘Ressies’ are in second place on the ladder and Pricey, Spits and Wij are keeping a ‘lid on it’ at present, cagey old stagers that they are! I hope the reserves’ players appreciate how fortunate they are to be under the tutelage of three terrific Fieldsmen. I’m sure they are!

Having watched Kew in last season’s D1 finals series I expected an early challenge for our boys as Kew liked to switch play very quickly with well positioned marking players around their flanks. As we had the wind in the first term I hoped it would not take us too long to settle down on the relatively short ground from goal to goal.

It was good to see Will Osborn with an early possession but Kew were into attack quickly and worked with lots of numbers at the contests and an attempt to pay special attention to Tim Nixon by harassment and blocking. ‘Nico’ relishes the heavy stuff and it was good to see plenty of support by Tim’s fellow on-ballers, a very good sign. It did take our blokes some time to get their bearings; Kew did a lot of the attacking and kicked the first goal courtesy of a free and a 25 metre penalty. ‘Ossie’ also impressed with a courageous goal during the early stages but we were not finding the ‘big sticks’ with a number of behinds. Kew kicked the second goal of the match, running the ball from their last line of defence, a sign not unfamiliar from their successful finals in 2015. We were busy but just not combining well enough and those damn missed opportunities again. It took a typical Tom Green take off the pack and a handover to Will Barker for our first goal but we needed to capitalise better at this stage if we were to make good use of the perceived, scoring end. Good to see young Finn McEvoy prominent in resisting Kew’s forward forages and one of Ryan Harris’ typically aggressive tackles may have well saved a third goal for Kew. Again we missed some gettable shots with consecutive behinds but ‘Ossie’ made up for it with a brilliantly designed kick, weighted sufficiently to fade on the wind, our second goal. Will Barker’s activity was noticeable with another centre clearance and he scored our third goal for the quarter after being well shepherded by Louis O’Keefe. 3.6 to 2.1 at quarter time could have been better but I wasn’t surprised by the time taken to work out the ‘lay of the land’ on a first visit.

In a very nice piece of play at the start of the second quarter, Tom Small’s free at the opening bounce enabled him to identify Brett Sinclair and onto Dec Reilly but only a behind resulted from the angle. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be another of those days of frustrating inaccuracy from our team. Ryan Harris’ experience shone through in the heavy stuff as he supported Tim Nixon. Jordan Stewart’s coolness under pressure and his experience was valuable as Kew attacked consecutively. Seven minutes in Ryan Harris and ‘Ossie’ combined well, Dec Reilly the recipient and his snap enabled Louis to run on and goal; very handy to kick the first for the term. Our smaller, on-baller’s appeared to be taking over around this time, Dom O’Keefe was leading the back six well and Andre’s presence was there again as he covered plenty of territory and made sure the big Kew ruckman was under pressure.

Kew kicked the first of two goals from costly loose play at half back, their second coming when ‘Smally’ unluckily lost his footing. When Kew kicked another goal at the half way mark of the quarter with a long goal from the flank it seemed to unsettle our subsequent ball handling and disposal for a time; our foot passing also going astray. Kew, from a free, kicked their third in a row and the brakes needed to be applied and quickly. Dan Meddings smothered a further Kew attack but another free against us made it five in a row for Kew and a dangerous period unfolding. When Charlie Logan initiated a good move from the middle, Kew’s defence stood firm. I felt we had been taking unnecessary risks around this time when control of the football was needed and critical to stem the flow but maybe this is a ‘dinosauristic’ approach in this age of constant movement of the ball. Another Kew goal came from a free and there followed those perplexing moments when a number of our players seemed to fall over their own feet. The encouraging part was the stoicism of the young defenders, under the guidance of Dom O’Keefe and Jordy Stewart, who did all they could as Kew kept up the momentum. When Kew snapped their 7^th goal in a row, from a snap from the pack at the 30 minute mark, it was not looking good with their having all the momentum. Almost against the flow, Andre’s palming was ideal and ‘Greeny’ swooped, delivered to Dec Reilly for a badly needed goal. After 33 minutes of play the siren sounded and we were trailing 5.8 to 9.3, Kew knowing exactly where and how to convert from. Plenty of work to do for the Fields and another challenge for the group.

During half time it was great to meet, by chance, the daughter of one of CGFC’s finest players, the late and great Tony Lester. Prue Lester was passing by with her beau who happens to be captain of my cricket club. It was great to tell the delightful Prue how much I admired her Dad who I had seen play with great distinction and who was exceedingly supportive of me when I first arrived at CGFC in 1997. The Club’s most courageous player achievement each season is the Tony Lester Award and so fittingly named. Not only was Tony a player of great courage, he was a member of the 1970 A Section premiership team, club captain and best and fairest, a VAFA State representative and a constant supporter of the club following his retirement as a player. Tony passed away at the age of 61 from cancer and never was his courage more clearly displayed than the four years during which he bravely fought the disease. Wonderful to meet you Prue!

I wasn’t privy to the coaches’ instructions during the break but whatever was said had a positive effect. After Jordy Stewart’s well timed mark at half back stopped an early Kew entry, a concerted effort through the midfield and a forward thrust got us a goal inside of a minute; Brett Sinclair finishing off with assistance from Louis. Good start! Kew fought back and had us under pressure again but a little luck went our way when a mis-kick across Kew’s goal face was only a behind. Big Declan kicked our 7^th goal 6 minutes in, courtesy of a handball from, I think, Louis O’Keefe? Tom Small’s work rate had been good and when he used his strength to maintain control of the ball in his space his excellent kick and goal was a further increase to our gathering momentum. We knew we needed to build a pertinent lead after reducing the half time deficit so this impetus was critical and to me, a further sign of the increasing cohesion of the group. When Kew attacked again shortly after there was a brilliant effort when we were clearly outnumbered involving Will Osborn and one other (sorry I can’t recall who) and winning the ball in this situation resulted in our next goal from Louis O’K after strong efforts from Dec Reilly and Tim Nixon; it was really good stuff, we had hit the front but needed more leeway. The increased intensity was making it hard for Kew and Nick Silvestro was another to show increasing confidence and work rate. Keeping the ball mainly in our forward half was also helped by Nick Tonkin and others in the back half lifting their efforts. Dec Reilly kicked an important goal by taking it out of the rick and booting it through, really important after nine minutes of goalless play. We missed a couple of other opportunities around this time but there were further good signs – Finn driving it forward and Sam Banfield combining with ‘Silver’ up forward. Nick’s recovery was great as he put us 3 goals up. Ryan Harris with a terrific run down when we were under threat, Nick Tonkin lifting his ratio and clearing from half back when challenged and Dom O’Keefe as tough as ever when Kew were attacking hard. We were weathering the challenge really well, an example being Lloyd Everett getting in and under with desperation but Kew kicked a goal against the flow with a smart snap from a spillage to bring them closer, just before three quarter time, the score 11.12 to 10.4 and some of those misses from set shots could be costly!

Couldn’t have been a better start when ‘Ossie’ gathered at halfback and got it to Declan for a goal inside of a minute. Tim Nixon and Tom Small were working overtime as Dec kicked a behind. Kew kicked their first goal of the quarter, again from a free and it would be interesting to look at the replay to see how many of these frees were warranted. Almost 9 minutes gone and Kew suddenly ran it the length of the ground to goal; more pressure and the response, Nico out of the centre to Nick Silvestro to Tom Small to Louis but a behind only and one that Louis shouldn’t have missed. It was really torrid and the minutes ticked over, both teams having a real crack. Kew have lost very few games over the past three seasons and they were very protective of their good record. Half way mark of the last term and Kew goaled from the angle, a skill they had displayed for most of the game. There was no doubt we were looking a bit weary at this stage but the response was strong as we again got the ball out of the middle via Barks. Domma had a great run from the last line of defence and with Jesse Toniolo’s influence gave ‘Smally’ a chance but another behind was the result.

Despite the weariness the attitude was terrific and Hugo Gates, who had been solid all day, started an attack. Tom Green used his pace and power and with Nick Tonkin gave Dec another opportunity. Dec didn’t let us down with his fifth goal for the game and had been a good target and had also done his share in the ruck in his best game for the season. Just when we had some breathing space, a couple of minutes after Dec’s conversion, Finn tried a short pass from full back, was off line and Kew converted, back to only a couple of points lead for the Fields. A strong push from Kew was held up by Jordy Stewart’s marking skill and as the minutes ticked by the boys worked it forward again with 31 minutes gone. Tom Small led like all skippers should with a strong mark under pressure and Tim Nixon in the final moments marked on the boundary line and as the siren sounded kicked the goal from an acute angle to give us a great 8 point victory and another courageous win for the boys 14.15 to 14.7

As I heard from Simon’s summary, there is work to be done on the goal shooting, especially from set shots, as eventually, it will hurt us. But the positives still outweigh the negatives. Unfortunately young Tom Smith hurt his shoulder but hopefully not too seriously. As an under 19 player he is a terrific prospect and has that strong protective streak in him to add to his general skills. Finn’s couple of errors with short kicks are only opportunities to learn from for the rest of his game is extremely encouraging and generally delivers the ball superbly. It was a real commanding performance from Dec Reilly and the protection provided for one another a sign of strong team ethics.

The line-up has settled a bit now as more information is locked away by the coaching panel. There is genuine balance with strong marking and variable forwards, an impressive on-ball brigade and a developing back half. The regular success of the Reserves and Nineteens, not to mention the formation and competitiveness of the Thirds keeps the fires burning. Another positive is that two of our really good players from recent weeks, Jack Wallace and Theo Thompson may well be in the Blue and White again when not required at other levels. The crowds are back and the faithful are being well rewarded. Long way to go but the future is bright. And, we are sitting in the top group of the Winning Edge Club Championship!

Goals – Reilley 5, Barker 2, L O’Keefe 2, Osborn, Sinclair Small, Silvestro, Nixon

Better players (in no particular order) – Silvestro, Reilly, T Small, Nixon, D O”Keefe, Osborn, Gates, Green, Barker

Big game next week against the in-form Williamstown CYMS, at Glenhuntly Park.

Really can’t wait.

Go Fields

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