The Under 19s recorded a big 51-point victory over traditional rivals Ormond at Boss James Reserve in a replay of last year’s Grand Final. The win is the Rovers third consecutive.
After the win in the big one last year, it was Ormond who got some revenge with a win back in round four and the Rovers wanted to ensure there wasn’t a repeat performance this time around.
Hampton were dominant from the get-go, allowing the visitors to kick just the one goal in the first half. A 20-point advantage at the first break extended to 40 points at half time.
Tom Nicolls kicked 7, this goes neatly with the 8 he kicked a couple of weeks ago, and takes his season total to 34.
It was great to see a number of U17s making an impact. Cam Hetherington, Liam McCartney, Ben Kneebush and Finn Garraway-McMaster all played on Saturday and adapted well to the increased pace and pressure of the U19s. Cam Jones continued his good form at CHF, Darcy Merlo again in the best, James Bryant, who had the job tagging Ormond’s prime mover, put in a blinder as did Jack Stewart in the centre.
The highlight of the day was when Liam took the intercept mark in the back pocket, passed to Jack Zaina who eluded his opponent and delivered to Ben Kneebush, who quickly passed to Tom Nicholls for another Rovers goal.
The backs were fantastic all day with young Matty Oswald in great form along with Luke Morcom who continued his great season and even managed to pop through a goal and the half back line of Cam Cullis, James Massey and Corey Jones were the springboard into attack all day.
Coach John Cesasio described the win as the best for the year. The Rovers now sit in equal-third on the U19 Section 3 ladder (with Williamstown & Ormond) with next week’s game against a team with four fewer wins than us this year – Old Camberwell. With the three other senior teams having the week off, the U19s are the only team in action and host the ‘Wellers at Boss James Reserve on Saturday and we welcome all supporters to get along and cheer on the boys. Kick-off is 2pm.
HAMPTON ROVERS 3.3 7.5 9.8 13.12 (90)
ORMOND 0.1 1.1 4.4 5.9 (39)
Goal Kickers: T. Nicholls 7, C. Jones 2, D. Broadstock , L. Morcom , F. Garraway-McMaster , J. Berry
Best Players: D. Merlo , J. Stewart , C. Jones , T. Nicholls , J. Bryant , L. McCartney
