Hampton Rovers moved into outright-second on the Premier C ladder with a 33-point win over Monash Blues at Boss James Reserve on Saturday.
It was the most important game of the season to-date for the Rovers with both sides sharing the same number of wins going into the round 16 clash.
There were another five changes to the side (11 from when the teams last met) and a number of younger players came back into the side following the conclusion of their premiership-winning APS season.
In front of a good crowd at the Boss, Hampton kicked with the strong wind towards the David Street and in the first but couldn’t capitalise early on. It was the visitors who kicked the opening goal of the game and the home side didn’t manage their first until the 20-minute mark through Harry Hill. Three more followed and the Rovers held a 23-point lead at the first break. Charlie Kelso was dominating in the ruck and he was well supported by Adam McNeil, Mat Care and the skipper Leigh Fletcher around the ground.
The second quarter followed the same pattern as the first, with Hampton preventing Monash kicking a goal with the advantage of the wind until 22 minutes in while kicking one against it in the meantime. The home side was dominating however the visitors then got on a roll kicking four majors in quick succession before the Rovers responded late through Ed Turner to hold a 12 point advantage at half time.
The Rovers were playing well but needed a big third term to take control of the contest, and that they did, dominating play and kicking four goals to blow the margin out to 38 points after 12 minutes of play. Kicking truly were Ed Turner who finished with three, McPherson, Sharp and Lovig who kicked a beauty from 45 out on the boundary in front of the Rovers supporters. Several missed opportunities followed though and at three quarter time the margin was 41 points – while big, was not necessarily a match-winning lead the the intense wind. Cam Sharp was playing well in the middle, filling in well for Mark Devereaux.
The home supporters’ minds were put at ease in the opening minutes however when Ed Turner kicked truly early in the last extending the Rovers lead. The visitors would only manage two goals with the wind with Josh Schmitz in particular dominating down back clearing several balls out of the Monash forward line with ease. McNeil, Lovig and Lynch killed every contest in the back half and the Blues leading goal kicker was kept goalless for the first time in 2014. The Rovers went on to claim an important victory, moving into the top-two with two games remaining in the season.
The youngsters in Jack Toouli, Harry Hill, Christian Carnovale and Nathan Smith all had an impact on the game which was great to see. Named in the best were Adam McNeil, Josh McPherson and Rich Atkins while Toouli was the other multiple goal kicked with two.
This coming Saturday is the final home game of the season when Hampton hosts rivals Oakleigh at Boss James Reserve before travelling to Old Camberwell in the final round of the home & away season.
HAMPTON ROVERS 4.5 6.8 10.14 11.16 (82)
MONASH BLUES 1.0 5.2 5.3 7.7 (49)
Goal Kickers: E. Turner 3, J. Toouli 2, C. Sharp, J. Lovig, H. Hill, J. Verlin, J. McPherson, M. Care
Best Players: A. McNeil, J. McPherson, R. Atkins, J. Toouli, J. Lovig, C. Carnovale
Watch the full match replay on VAFATV >
Watch the match highlights on HRTV >
It was another big attendance at the pre-game President’s Luncheon with over 100 enjoying the best game-day meal in the Ammo’s including three tables of U19s players and parents. U19 coach John Cesario was interviewed and spoke of the turnaround which has seen the young Rovers win their past seven matches, surging towards the finals. Also great to hear the APS premiership-winning captain from Brighton Grammar Tom Fisher (along with eight others) and Haileybury’s captain Lachlan McPherson are both signed to the club and will play the remainder of the year.
Earlier in the day, the Under 19s got the triple-header off to a perfect start with a big 115-point win over Collegians to and all but guarantee a finals appearance. Click here for the full U19 match report.
The Reserves couldn’t hold off Monash in the last term. The home side simply didn’t have enough of a lead at the final break, up by eight points. The Blues took a while, but ended up kicking seven goals to one in the last to win it by 29 points. Tom Rowse and Josh Pavlou each kicked three goals while Tim Jones, Josh Pavlou and Nick Taylor were best for the Rovers.
The Thirds were up early to catch a bus out to Old Ivanhoe, kicking-off at 9:20am. While numbers were better than last week, they couldn’t get the job done, going down by 24 points. Jay Coverdale was the only multiple goal kicker with two while Vincent Camera, William Wright and Sam Cougan were amongst the best.
Seniors scoreworm:
