Rovers 77-point Monash mauling

The Hampton Rovers responded to their mid-season form slump in impressive fashion defeating the Monash Blues by 77 points at Boss James Reserve on Saturday. The triple-header at David Street on Saturday saw three Rovers wins.

The Rovers were coming off their first two losses of the season after completing the first half of the 2008 season undefeated, and after two tough weeks on the road they were looking forward to returning home and putting in a strong performance against Monash. The last time the two sides met in Round 2, it was the Rovers with a big 97 point victory.

Still with several players missing from the line-up, Hampton had a number of inclusions and first gamers with Frankston VFL player Daniel Corp in for his second game of the season and Jason Giasoumi and Alex Ross stepping up to make their senior debut for the club.

On a perfect winter’s day, the Rovers kicked against the slight breeze in the opening term and posted four goals to two. The home side went on to kick seven majors in the second term to Monash’s two to hold a commanding 45 point lead at the main break.

Almost back to full fitness, Rob Alexander played out of full forward and was doing well with a number of majors and strong marking while the Rovers run and skills was impressive all over the ground.

The third quarter saw the Rovers kick just the three goals however Monash could manage only two. After last week’s final quarter, the Rovers were super keen to finish strongly, and that they did, booting seven goals to Monash’s three to put the icing on the cake and post a 77 point victory over the Blues to remain two games clear on top of the ladder.

Rob Alexander finished the game with seven goals while first gamer Jason Giasoumi kicked four. Nathan Davidson, Nick Greenwood and Ryan Semmel all kicked two each.

Among the best players for the Rovers were Mark Devereaux, Jay Ting, Rob Alexander, Nathan Davidson, Leigh Fletcher and Gerrard Woods.

The Hampton Rovers are at home again next week when they take on Melbourne High School Old Boys in Round 13 of the VAFA.

HAMPTON ROVERS  4.6  11.9  14.13  21.17 (143)
MONASH BLUES  2.4  4.6  6.10  9.12 (66)
Goal Kickers: R. Alexander 7, J. Giasoumi 4, N. Greenwood 2, R. Semmel 2, N. Davidson 2, D. Corp, M. Devereaux, L. Fletcher, T. Curry.
Best Players: M. Devereaux, J. Ting, R. Alexander, N. Davidson, L. Fletcher, G. Woods.

It was the second Triple-Header of the year at Boss James Reserve. The second game of the day saw the Reserves finally get back on the winners list with a 27 point victory over Monash. Tony Pucella was best on for the Rovers kicking three goals. Nick Evans was the other multiple goal kicker with two while Davis, Garry Giasoumi, Stef Constantinou, Freedman and Sandercock kicked singles. Other best players included Flahive, Theodore, Ng and Durston-Ryan.

The Under 19’s kicked off the day bright and early at 9:20am and recorded a solid 125 point win over Prahran-Caulfield. It could have been much greater though if not for the Rovers inaccurate kicking. The Rovers posted 19.33 on the scoreboard, that’s 52 scoring shots to 7.