On a day where the Rovers mauled Banyule by 108 points to well and truly get their season back on track, the highlight was in the Reserves where Steve Anderson played his 300th VAFA game for the club.
The veteran shows no sign of easing up, producing a best on ground performance and kicking six goals in the Reserves biggest win of the season. The three-time premiership player, former club captain, best & fairest winner and state representative was chaired off the ground in front of the Rovers crowd and is set to reach another milestone in the near future with 450 club games not too far away.
In the main game, the Rovers were looking to continue their form from last week’s brilliant victory over Oakleigh and the struggling Banyule side certainly had it all to do at Boss James Reserve.
However it was the visitors who came out firing. They took the early lead and held a four-point advantage at the first break with their key forward (#20) kicking four goals. The inaccuracy of the Rovers was evident on the scoreboard with the home side having twice as many scoring shots. If not for late goals to Sam Clements and Rich Atkins, the situation could have been worse.
Coach Guy Martyn rightfully wasn’t a happy man at the first break and he asked plenty of questions about his chargers efforts in the first term. What he said clearly resonated with the players as from the 24 minute mark of the 1st quarter to the 25 minute mark of the third quarter (over an hour of footy), Banyule didn’t kick a goal (in fact just 5 points) while the rampaging Rovers banged on 16.6 to take a commanding lead.
Sam Clements returned to form in front of goals with three majors during this period and four for the day while McPherson, Devereaux and Pavlou all booted two in that period to finish the game with 4, 3 and 4 goals respectively. The goal of the day was from the skipper, when he lit the afterburners through the midfield, took a bounce and calmly slotted a low trajectory bullet from 50m to the crowd’s delight.
The tall frame of Charlie Kelso dominated in the ruck and at one point he hit Devereaux on the chest four times in succession from the ball up. In a downside the Rovers other ruckman Jack Wilson was forced to the sidelines following a heavy knock in the opening minutes and sat the remainder of the game out. Further injuries meant the Rovers were down to zero on the bench in the last quarter.
At the final break, the target he set was to win by 100 points, this was achieved by kicking six straight before the Banyule boys kicked one right on the siren. In the end the scoring shots told the tale – 42 to 19 and a big victory to give Hampton a 5-3 record going into the week-off.
Following the Queen’s Birthday weekend, the Rovers host Old Camberwell at Boss James Reserve to round out the opening half of the 2014 season.
HAMPTON ROVERS 3.9 12.13 19.13 25.19 (169)
BANYULE 5.1 5.3 7.8 8.11 (59)
Goal Kickers: J. McPherson 4, S. Clements 4, J. Pavlou 4, M. Devereaux 3, E. Turner 2, J. Schmitz 2, N. Jewell , M. Care, J. Ting, R. Atkins, L. Fletcher, K. Pinto.
Best Players: M. Devereaux, J. Ting, L. Fletcher, J. McPherson, S. Clements, J. Dillon.
View the full-match replay on VAFATV >
The Reserves played all over an undermanned Banyule side and finished the day 142-point victors. As mentioned, Steve Anderson in his 300th VAFA game had the ball on the string and finished with six goals. Another 250-game veteran Adam Power kicked four, as did Nick Taylor and Tim Jones. Jesse Donald, Stef Constantinou and Michael Dynon were also amongst the best players.
While it’s just the Reserves second win of the season, they sit just two wins out of the four and have a healthy percentage so hopefully a more settled line-up and confidence and bring more wins and push for a spot in the top-four.
Steve Anderson runs out for his 300th @VAFA_HQ game. Reserves off to a flyer up 7.4.46 – Banyule 1.0.6 at qtr time pic.twitter.com/OzUkJlX68x
— Hampton Rovers FC (@HRAFC) May 31, 2014
In the first game of the triple-header at the Boss, the Under 19s faced top-of-the-table Ormond and while they couldn’t get the win, it was a creditable performance by the young Rovers, going down by 28 points. Inaccuracy in front of goal was again an issue with the Rovers having just two less shots on the goal than the victors.
Campbell Jones booted five of Hampton’s six goals to go equal top on the club goal kicking with Ed Turner. Jack Zaina who recently celebrated his 150th club game was best and he was well supported by Benjamin, Massey and Daley.
The Thirds made the long trek out to PEGS Playing Fields right under the Melbourne Airport flight path and while numbers were again strong, they couldn’t match it with the third-placed side, going down by 122 points. Matt Ryan, Vincent Camera and Jack Lloyd were best while Ben Woodland kicked a couple of goals.
It was another great day at Boss James Reserve with a triple-header, two big wins, a great President’s Luncheon as always, half-time Auskick and of course a significant milestone for a champion of the club. While there’s always room for improvement, the club is ticking along nicely at the moment and we encourage everyone to get more involved as we look forward to a strong second half of the season.
While this week is footy-free, the club does have its major joint-function of the year with the Hampton Rovers Auction Night. This is an important night for the club and we urge everyone to get along before they relax for the long weekend. $25 will get you dinner and there are some great auction items available and entertainment planned including guest speaker Warwick Capper. Come down and enjoy a few drinks and support the club. If you can, pre-pay for your ticket online otherwise you can pay at the door on the night. View more info, auction items and purchase tickets here >
