It was home ground round for Olinda Ferny Creek Juniors on Sunday, which saw teams travel to Yea and Mt Evelyn with just four games at home, but what a day to be out watching junior footy!
Firstly, on Friday night the U9 legends travelled out to Healesville for their last Friday night round for the season. The next stop for them is their lightning premiership next Sunday and Coach Tim has had his head buried in U10s Coach Ben’s strategy book all week following the U10 success.
Then, Sunday morning the U10s travelled out to Mt Evelyn for a premiership rematch following the last game of the Lightning Premiership. It seemed that Mt Evelyn was keen for revenge whereas Olinda were perhaps still in school holiday mode. It was a great game but Mt Ev looked to get the chocolates this time. This will be a rivalry that will likely continue for many years.
The U11s had a bye and look forward to hitting the track this week to continue their amazing season.
The U12 girls have really taken a step forward over the last couple of weeks. The last time they played Belgrave, they were trounced by nearly 80 points. This time, after letting a couple of early goals through, they tightened the game up and kept Belgrave to a point in the second. They outscored Belgrave in the second including a goal to Veronique Lopez in her return from illness and the game was really on the line. Belgrave coaches must have really rallied the troops at 3/4 time because they came out and kicked two early goals to take the challenge beyond the girls, despite a late goal from Reagan Seamer. Great defensive games from Bea Edge and Jas Thompson kept Belgrave at bay, whilst great run and carry from Willow Thornton and Jess Verheyen generated forward pressure. Lili Denovan continued to work hard at the contest whilst also dropping back to intercept Belgrave attacks. It was a great effort for the girls to keep building on.
The U13 boys were missing a few players with school holidays still having an effect on numbers, but the boys came through with a convincing victory against Healesville. A definite highlight was 50 gamer Louie Barry kicking his first goal in footy but Coach Spida was pleased with the even spread of players improving each week. Ollie Millwood snagged 3 goals in a dominant display with Kadin Johnston bagging two. Fletcher Brown and Al Deering also had great days out as the team fine-tune their game towards finals.
The U15 boys made a bus trip for their game out at Yea. One of the parents was astounded by just how quickly “boy smell” fills a bus! They’ve been really tested over the past couple of rounds as they get used to the top division and were keen to get back to their winning ways. Yea put up a physical contest that had the boys back-pedalling in the first quarter. Despite being just ahead at quarter time, Coach Scott thought it might have been their worst quarter of the season. To their credit, they regrouped and started playing the running game style they have been working on all year. They accelerated their pressure through the midfield in the second and third quarters, kicking 4 goals in each and coasted home with two in the last, keeping Yea scoreless in that quarter. Stand-out players included Campbell Hutchin on his return to the club, Aden Bates, Kael Johnston, Jarvis Reid and Etienne Griersmith-Rowe.
The U16 girls took on Yarra Glen in a high-standard game in the brilliant sunshine at home. Whilst the game slipped from their hands, it was a really impressive game of footy that could have gone either way. The girls had a lot of the play and were really only let down by some costly turnovers through the middle of the ground. Grace Belloni played an exceptional game, Kiah Barry continued her aggressive work in the contest but she also reads the game so well with intercept marks. Nikayla Seamer kicked 4 goals in a really impressive game as she also brought her teammates into the game giving off handballs when under pressure in the forward line. Jacqueline Ring rucked well all day and Tilly Oleskowski and Paige Robinson were rocks in defence. Elsa Leonard, Kaesha Christie and Aurora Edge provided run and carry from defence and across the middle.
The U17 boys had a chance to redeem an early-season loss against Mt Evelyn and they did so in style. This unit has come together and is playing some really good footy at the business end of the season. In the end, they ran away winners by 79 points, but the effort and endeavour with team-oriented footy all day was the most pleasing part for Coach Paddy. The highlight of this game, though, was for Max Dooley to snag a goal in the third. Max is the heart and soul of this team as he comes to all training, never misses a game and always supports the boys. After one of the most scintillating pieces of play as Menzie Jans McKirdy took three bounces running out of defence and kicked a piercing ball into Ned Ford under pressure. Ned managed to loop a handless over the top to Max, who, despite enormous pressure, managed to get a boot to the ball and snag the goal. The entire oval erupted as the team came down to get around him. He said after the game he felt like Buddy Franklin kicking his 1000th. Well done Max. Other standouts were Tav Aitken with his grunt around the contest all day, Ned Ford with his bag of 6 and an assist to Max, Lachie Bates and Liam Smith.
So a great weekend’s footy capped off with celebrating the U10 Lightning Premiership at Family Night with a PowerPoint presentation that didn’t leave a dry eye in the house.
