The Hampton Rovers went down to Marcellin by 46 points at Bulleen on Saturday.
The first half was one to forget, especially the last 10 minutes of the second term – where the Rovers had as much of the ball as their opponents but missed targets by hand and foot time and time again. A six to one goal term and it was just about game over.
After the break Nick Jackson went from full back to the ruck. Luke Deville moved to cover that position and showed some poise and class in holding out the Marcellin forwards. Clemo became more of a permanent forward and offered us a target, Fletch playing from HB was actually tagged and that spurred him to greater efforts and the wheels started to turn. Cowboy McNeil came into the game and with Lachy Cairns running hard we showed we could match it with the opposition. In our best quarter of footy for the year Ant Folino, Nick Jackson and Jack Zaina popped through goals and we kept the opposition to just 2 points.
In the first half, while big Charlie Thorpe controlled the ruck we just couldn’t seem to get the clearances and while Carny was in hard and often our drives forward were easily repelled by the Marcellin defenders. The only highlights of that first half was the give by Clemo to Jack Zaina who ran into the open goal and the big mark Clemo took at 55m which he banged through with a beautiful drop punt.
Three goals down at the final break and the Rovers were in with a chance. Marcellin had other ideas and the two goals they kicked in the first minute of play ended our chances. After that it became a procession. Time and time again with sloppy handball we gave it up to the opposition.
Roland De Biase played well all day, Shem Curry in his first run in the seniors this year played well from his limited opportunities and was sure whether by hand or foot. James Prosser was hard at the ball and his opponent all day and did a good job.
This week, no easy task, up against old rivals Old Ivanhoe at Boss James Reserve where a win is vital.
HAMPTON ROVERS 1.0 2.2 5.5 6.7 (43)
MARCELLIN OC 2.3 8.6 8.8 13.11 (89)
Goal Kickers: S. Clements 2, J. Zaina 2, N. Jackson, A. Folino
Best Players: L. Deville, J. Prosser, R. De Biase, L. Cairns, A. McNeil, L. Fletcher
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Watch the full match replay >
In the Reserves, the Rovers went in at half time 23 points down. After the break, the boys came out firing – Ned Fallon and Ash Fisher were on song and providing targets for the midfielders. Ned finished with 3 goals in a welcome return to form. Rory Lynch, 2014 & 2015 premiership player, had a great game, intercepting marks at will and providing drive forward.
There was some consistent play down back. Luke Morcom was getting his rhythm back and looked cool and calm at half back, similarly Louis Mather showed great desperation and aggression at full back and won a number of critical one on two contests when under huge pressure. By the final break we had narrowed the gap to a goal, having briefly hit the lead but similar to a week ago, we ran out of legs and were run over in the last quarter.
The Jones boys looked good, both goal kickers, with Rick certainly enjoying a release from the backline and Tim roaming the forward line. Old stagers Benny Kezilas and Stef Constantinou were in and under with Big Head kicking the goal of the day. In the end, it was Marcellin who recorded a 39-point win.
UNDER 19 (1)
Unfortunately a poor start may have cost the U19 (1) a win in Saturday’s epic battle with the undefeated Marcellin at their home ground. The home team came out and kicked 4.7 to the Rovers 1.1 and from then on it was catch up footy. Not to be denied the Rovers kept fighting and improved their centre stoppage work in the 2nd term and were able to move the ball quickly to Matty Rienetts who kicked 4 goals for the quarter. It was a tight tussle for the remainder of the game with the Rovers getting within a few points of the lead. The Rovers eventually lost by 8 points, but even with about 3 minutes remaining the Rovers kept peppering the goals and if one shot was not touched on the line the outcome may have been very different.
It was pleasing to see Taylor Chrisp who was promoted from the U 19 (2) put in a best on ground performance in the midfield and down back. Steve Raymer was again ever reliable at full back on the dangerous Marcellin full forward and he was ably assisted by Dylan Melnjak who looked very composed in his unfamiliar role in defence. Corey Jones also played his best game for the year at centre half back providing drive and also nullifying the oppositions big CHF.
Cam Cullis was again very reliable as was Harrison Crisp and Tommy Sharry. Matty Rienetts also finished in the best with his 5 majors for the day.
UNDER 19 (2)
Unfortunately, an undermanned U19(2) side went down to a very strong Glen Eira side. How this opposition side is in in section 5 is questionable. Notwithstanding this our boys kept battling all day with strong performances from Magnus Anderson in the ruck and up forward, Sam Callaghan down back and on ball and Liam Mouat also on ball and back. Luka again was very reliable at full back for the 2nd week in a row. Other good players included Jordan Shulman and Ash Hoare.
View the results page for all the scores.
