Team : Under 11 Blue
Sponsor: GWS Network
Trophy Winners
Best and Fairest:- Ben Doolan
Runner Up Best and Fairest:- Michael Benvenuto
Best Team Player:- Gus Rose
Most Courageous:- Finlay Kirkwood
Coachs Award:- Harrison Zammit
My end of year summary is basically the notes I spoke to at the U11 Blue presentation day session on Sunday 8th September .
I recall a conversation I had during the year with a gentleman who coaches junior football at another club. It became clear to me that there were junior football coaches with very different philosophies to me. In his club, he didnt allow kids to move from auskick to play competitive footy until they passed a test, including kicking on their wrong foot and other skills.
Then I thought that maybe I wasnt that different because I didnt want to have anyone in my team who didnt pass my test. My test was
Do you want to have fun? Do you want to learn how to contribute as part of a team? Do you want to learn and improve your footy skills
Needless to say, every one of the boys in my team passed the test with flying colours!
A couple of those points are about learning and there are a lot of things I learned this year ..
1 – Stephen Kanavoutsos usually likes to get a quick handpass out BUT in front of goal, slams it through a great highlight for the team this year was Stevie Ks first career goal!
2 – James Bull plays best as rover and looks great when he runs on to his left foot
3 – Jay Davis loves being part of the team and got a great handpass out In round 12 against St Peters
4 – Harrison Zammit doesn’t mind a tricky snap for goal and was one of our leading goal kickers this year with 8
5 – Ben Doolan loves winning the hard ball and then running with it
6 – Max Pinczes plays best where he can run on the wing, like last game against Cheltenham
7 – Jordan Grigg Doesn’t mind a sneaky goal
kicked a goal in 3 games in a row this year in the middle of the season
8 – Matthew Needham moves super smoothly as a footballer and doesn’t mind a goal either kicking 5 this year
9 – Michael Benvenuto prefers to play on the ball and run through the middle
10 – Conor Mooney is a tackling machine!
11 – Harry Connell is fast and loves to play in defence – especially back pocket
12 – Matthew Pine plays best when running straight and hard at the ball off half back
13 – Lachlan Carney loves playing in the middle and it would take a truck to knock him over
14- James Currie prefers the space of Boss James and played a great game when we played there
15 – Samuel Bott likes taking match saving marks when his dad’s not watching
16 – Samuel Rose when he gets moved forward from the backline, can set a game alight and kick some great goals – one of our leading goal kickers with 8 this year
17 – Jensen Pillinger stepped up this year and competed hard for the ball
18 – Luke Peters loves the big stage – Round 10 against Mordi Braeside – 50th game, captain, full forward, 2 goals and a win against the top side!
20 – Luka French-Medic enjoys winning the hard ball in the back line
24 – Gus Rose takes a good overhead mark and loves a run and bounce with his stylish left footedness
25 – Finlay Kirkwood does anything he’s asked to do and is scary if you get in his way. Also loves a goal, kicking 3 in the big Mordi Braeside win and 7 for the year.
The team learnt that:
It doesnt matter that you didnt win a game last year,
It doesnt matter that you get beaten by 5 goals in the first game or didnt score in round 4 against Cheltenham, losing by over 50 points.
If you keep learning, keep trying your hardest, improving and playing as a team, you will:
Get that first win against Beaumaris, Turn that 50 point flogging into almost a brilliant win and Beat the top side on a freezing morning at their home ground.
This year, U11 Blue found their mojo and found their voice and had a ball doing it.
While Ben and Michael were the top 2 vote getters for the year, the votes were close across a big group of players, which reflected a very even team contribution across the season.
A special thank you to :
Sharn and Michael Rose for hosting the main team social event for the year. Frank and Augusta Benvenuto for their contributions as water boy, coaching/training assistant, player chauffer and anything else that the team needed done AND the fantastic photography throughout the season. Rosey as assistant coach and runner, always helping with training and no matter how big a night/weekend he had, taking on the runners job enthusiastically. Trish Mooney as trainer. All the dads and mums who regularly got to training, particularly those who often helped with drills Graham Davis and Paul French Mel, the worlds greatest team manager, who ran the admin and social side of things like a well-oiled machine regardless of how much other stuff she had on and who I could not have done the coaching job without.
