The Rovers U19s again flew the flag for the club on Saturday being the only Rovers senior team to have a win with a decisive 57 point victory over Melbourne High.
That’s the first time this season John Cesario’s side has won two games in a row.
Hampton kicked with the wind in the first quarter but weren’t able to take advantage of the conditions. Joel Emmins created great pressure in the forward 50 which enabled the Rovers to benefit from his hard work and finish the quarter with 3 goals. The coach was disappointed that they didn’t do better!
The drive from the midfielders continued in the 2nd with Jack Stewart handling his new role superbly, ably assisted from Sam Care, Clarke, Jack Zaina, Josh Elston and Jordan Baravelli. The back line was also very steady with Luke Morcom again playing consistent footy along with his mates in Nick Hewett and the two Jacks, Daley and Massey.
The Coach was frustrated at half time as we had kicked 1.6 and weren’t able take advantage of an under manned MHSOB. The obligatory lolly packet came off 2nd best as the coach urged his players to be cleaner with the footy and finish off with more polish.
The Rovers started the 3rd quarter in beautiful fashion with the mids clearing the ball at the first bounce with Campbell Jones scoring a goal within 50 seconds. Campbell then followed up with another strong mark and another major 1 minute later. Bass Miller kicked one of his 2 in the quarter and all of a sudden the Rovers were playing more direct footy and again using their tackling pressure to advantage. We kicked 5 goals 1 behind for the quarter.
The last quarter started better than the 3rd with Campbell kicking a major within 30 seconds (he ended up with 6 for the day) and with Corey Jones, they dominated the forward 50. David Broadstock, James Benjamin, Lachy Cairns and Jim Berry all contributed around the ground and the Rovers finished off with another 4.1 in the last to record a 57 point victory.
Next week we’re on in the early game v Oakleigh who are currently in second spot. It will be a good test for the boys who will have to play 4 quarters of hard, smart footy in order to knock them off.
HAMPTON ROVERS 3.3 4.9 9.10 13.11 (89)
MELBOURNE HIGH 1.0 3.1 4.2 5.2 (32)
Goal Kickers: C. Jones 6, L. Cairns 3, B. Miller 2, J. Massey , C. Clarke
Best Players: J. Stewart, C. Jones, J. Elston, C. Jones, L. Morcom, J. Zaina
