The Rovers recorded their second victory of the season on Saturday with a scrappy 38-point win over Old Ivanhoe at Boss James Reserve.
In wet and blustery conditions, it was a sloppy first quarter with neither side able to take control of the contest. The visitors had the slight advantage of the breeze however both sides weren’t able to kick a major and at the first break they were up three behinds to two. Something you don’t see too often! First-gamer Harry Robertson was applying himself, young Oscar Roberts was marking well in the difficult conditions and big Charlie Thorpe in the ruck was contesting well against a bigger opponent.
Halfway through the second quarter, Hampton held a four goal lead and given the conditions, that seems just about a match-winning margin, however to the visitors credit, they kicked two goals in the last few minutes of the half to get on the board and get back in the contest, trailing by 12 points at the main break. Carny popped through a snap, Cowboy with a handoff from Carny kicked his first and quickly followed up again after Fletch made a great interception, a run and then a bullet pass to Carny who went to Cowboy for goal! Nick Jackson, full back two weeks ago and now forward popped through our fourth from a well-earned free.
The third quarter was another arm wrestle. Hampton seemed to be on top but just couldn’t put the score on the board. With James Prosser coming into the game, particularly at the stoppages and Roland De Biase was putting in a blinder topped off by a great goal on the run after a Dusty Martyn-like fend off. The highlight of the quarter was Cowboy’s pass to Clemo on the lead, who kicked accurately from 45m.
At the final change, the Rovers were up by 17 points and an early goal to Traegs from a nice sequence of passing had the boys in a good position to go on and claim the win. Cam Hetherington followed, from a pass from Pross for an accurate snap and finally, Fletch burst through half forward and kicked truly from 35m. The scoreline of 9.9 to 3.7 was a true reflection of the game, particularly when you realise that Old Ivanhoe only scored 1.6 in three quarters of footy and were held scoreless in the last.
Luke Deville put in another sound performance down back, Fletch was his courageous self all day, the other backs in Ryan Fogarty, Liam McCartney and Josh Pavlou were all solid and made life hard for the ‘Hoers forwards. Our young forwards in Ben Kneebush, Cam Hetherington and Ant Folino are gaining confidence with every game and as the season progresses are sure to be posting higher scores.
The win sees the Rovers square the ledger at 2-2 and are on eight points with five other teams. This week, the Rovers travel to Burbank Oval to face Williamstown CYMS, then return home to the Boss the following week to host Old Geelong – book now for the 2017 Mother’s Luncheon.
HAMPTON ROVERS 0.2 4.3 6.6 9.9 (63)
OLD IVANHOE 0.3 2.3 3.7 3.7 (25)
Goal Kickers: A. McNeil 2, B. Traeger-Haig, C. Carnovale, S. Clements, N. Jackson, R. De Biase, C. Hetherington, L. Fletcher
Best Players: R. De Biase, L. Deville, B. Traeger-Haig, L. Fletcher, C. Carnovale, A. Folino
The Reserves, hunting for their first victory, were slow out of the blocks kicking with a 2 or 3 goal wind and failed to take advantage, trailed at quarter time by 2 points. The side worked a lot harder in the second quarter and was able to break even on the scoreboard heading into half time.
The side finally broke the game open in the third quarter with best on ground Darcy Merlo kicking two majors, and Nick Murnane & Brendan Culvenor providing some great run and their best performances of the year. Ash Fisher turned the clock back booting four goals and taking a hanger, with Chris Ellison chipping in with 3 goals. Reserves running out easy 48 point winners – kicking 10.3 to 4.0 after half time.
Great to see we had a playing coach on Saturday with big Dudds pulling on the boots to help out in the ruck. A great performance with some of the deft tap work, great marks and accurate kicking, he led by example. Rory Lynch continued his good form and the other veteran Benny Kezilas played well.
The Under 19 (1) side had a poor day out with inaccurate kicking costing the Rovers dearly. Despite having four more scoring shots, the boys went down by 21 points to Old Haileybury – posting four goals 20.
The Under 19 (2) had a closer encounter at Castlefield Reserve but fell short by five points to Old Camberwell.
On Sunday, the Rovers Women recorded their second consecutive victory, defeating Therry Penola away from home – read the full report >
