The Rovers faced off against the undefeated Williamstown CYMS at the Seagulls VFL home ground on Saturday and at half time, things were looking good.
Hampton led by three points at quarter time and four points at the main break, against the ladder leaders who were fielding their best line-up of the season. In fact, Hampton had outscored and outplayed the CY’s in three of the quarters in a game where a very determined, aggressive and relentless Rovers outfit didn’t let up on their opponents all day … except for two four-minute periods in the third quarter.
In that time, the Willy machine turned it on and bang, eight goals in as many minutes and it was game over. As members of the large contingent of Rovers supporters present remarked “it was almost like Willy substituted a new team for 10 minutes in that third quarter such was there domination”. For the rest of the game, Hampton outscored Williamstown in each quarter.
With the Rovers leading at the first break, Josh Broadley was continuing his ruck domination this year and while Williamstown had at least four blokes as tall as him, his mobility, agility and spring was beyond them. James Prosser was on fire and as coach Quon has said many times this year, he is our litmus test of how we perform. Ben Traeger-Haig continued his great form and his desperation at the ball and his opponent frustrated many Williamstown forays forward. Lachie Cairns was owning his wing and giving drive while up forward, Sam Bradford and Rich Atkins were making the most of their opportunities. Great to see first-gamer Jacob Gray pop through his first senior goal early on.
The second term was similarly battled out. The boys held their own and while they stretched the lead by a point at the main break, the boys were hanging in there. A great pass by Pross the Jacob Gray resulted in his second goal, Ryan Fogarty was in and under and doing solid work, Scott Ebbott just kept on running and tackling and upsetting his opponents. Skipper Adam McNeil was hitting the contests very hard and you could see that the CY boys were panicked by the Rovers ferocious attack on the ball.
At the break the coached stressed the pressure at the stoppages, the tackles that were sticking and the relentlessness of the young Rovers at their opponents. He also made it clear that the opposition wouldn’t drop their bundle, they’d only lost a handful of games in the last two years and they had some quality players – we had to maintain the pressure.
In simple terms, he was correct, they banged on four goals in as many minutes at the start of the third quarter and 5 minutes later did it again – another four majors in four minutes, with their VFL stars dominating, and it was all over Rover! Hampton’s lone goal came just before the siren when Harrison McIntyre snapped from 35m and the ball bounced through. Enough said in our most ordinary quarter for the year.
Shell-shocked at the final break, the concern was that Willy would take advantage of the lead they’d opened, and the young Rovers would drop their bundle. To the boys credit, they didn’t. Rich Atkins went down back and kept the VFL inclusion who’d kicked 6 in his second game of the year, basically touchless in the final quarter. The mids regained the desperation of the first half, Josh Broadley just kept jumping in the ruck and we again were able to keep control of the CYMS boys and again outscore them on a day where the conditions played no part in the outcome. Good to see TJ continuing his good form and Ant Folino and Ben Kneebush were solid on the ball and in defence respectively.
WILLIAMSTOWN CYMS
2.6
4.9 12.12 14.16 (100)
HAMPTON ROVERS 3.3 5.7 6.9-45 7.11 (53)
Goal Kickers: J. Gray 2, J. Prosser, T. Jones, C. Miles, H. McIntyre, M.
Rieniets
Best Players: J. Broadley, J. Prosser, S. Ebbott, T. Jones, A. Folino, B.
Kneebush
The Rovers drop on spot on the ladder to seventh and return home to the Boss this weekend to face Old Ivanhoe and what is a big day for the club. Thanks to our helpers on Saturday including Kam Atkins for timekeeping, Sam Clements for runner duties, Jackson Manning and Josh Pavlou for stats and the trainers.
The Reserves suffered just their second defeat of the season. The first quarter highlight was around the very good teamwork both sides were bringing. Intentions were good but sometimes ineffectual with the greasy ball and pressure from both sides. Huggy brought up the Rovers first goal while not long after Naha’s created a pressure turnover as Willy tried to exit the backline, which resulted in Terjung getting the ball to Murnane who goaled for the Rovers second for the quarter. Stewart was very lively with his pace in the quarter while Shem and Lovig were also playing well. With 6 scoring shots by Willy to the Rovers 2 it was clear the home team had the edge in the contest but not by a lot.
The 2nd quarter was actually the best one for the Rovers. Huggy, Terjung and Wilson all took very good marks, Zaina was very attacking and giving the Rovers some mid field grunt. Timmons got the first goal for the Rovers when he took a very strong pack mark and shortly after Shem used his body well to outpoint his opponent to mark and also goal. Daley was another who played well for the quarter as he seems to get stronger each week. Willy however had the answers with great delivery into a fast-leading forward line making it very hard for the defenders. They had their kicking boots on with 4 straight goals to the Rovers somewhat wasteful 2goals 3 behinds. While Willy had edged further ahead it was a very even quarter in play.
The 3rd quarter was also a very high standard. J-Lov provided the highlight by grabbing the ball in a ruck contest deep forward and quickly snapping the ball through the big sticks. Willy started well but could only manage a few points. The Rovers dominated the middle of the quarter and when Merlo received a nice pass from Zach Donald he threaded a goal through from the boundary line and the margin was back to less than 3 goals and I thought the contest was really on. But to Willy’s credit they got a couple of late goals and they hit the main break with a handy lead.
Well the 4th quarter was just dominated by Williamstown as they had 13 scoring shots to the Rovers nil. J-Lov looked to be carrying an injury so the Rovers had no ruckman and a few makeshift fill-ins did their best. But Willy won the clearances and it was a great time for their forwards who led hard and had them honoured time and again with great passing by their mids. Anyhow sometimes teams click and Willy did in the last quarter giving the Rovers no chance.
Overall though it was a very high standard of footy and great to watch and we look forward to a rematch in Hampton.
WILLIAMSTOWN CYMS 4.2-26
8.2-50 10.8-68 17.14-116
HAMPTON ROVERS 2.0-12
4.3-27 6.4-40 6.4-40
Goal Kickers: N. Murnane, A. Hug, S. Curry, D. Merlo, M. Timmons, J. Lovig
Best Players: J. Garrow, R. Lynch, A. Hug, M. Timmons, J. Lovig, J. Zaina
Thanks to the trainers, Ken Duddy for Gameday Manager duties, Stan Oldfield for timekeeping, Nick Jackson for runner duties, Anton Hug for Goal Umpiring and Kristy Ebbott for running water.
The Thirds returned to the winners list with a 33-point win over Old Paradians at Boss James Reserve. Ash Fisher starred with six goals and Mat Care with five, while Brandon Scott was best on for the Rovers.
Hampton Rovers
5.4-34 9.6-60 13.7-85 16.11-107
Old Paradians
2.1-13 6.6-42 9.7-61
11.8-74
Goal Kickers: A. Fisher 6, M. Care 5, N. Fallon, J. Campion, H. Brayshaw, M.
Bright, J. Lopez
Best Players: B. Scott, A. Fisher, M. Care, L. Morcom, M. Bright, A. Ratcliffe
It was a double-header at the Boss with the Under 19s taking on PEGS afterwards and running out big winners – read the full match report here.
The Rovers Women headed towards the Zoo on a damp, cold Saturday morning for a 9.20 start to play the top of the ladder side UHS-VU … gee our Women’s Team is keen and committed!
With some big ‘outs’ this week such as Maxine and Harmoni missing up forward, this game was going to be a very difficult challenge. However, we were fortunate to also have a couple of very good inclusions with Tarryn and Fran coming back into the side.
The game started at a frenetic pace as expected, there was some hard but fair bumps. Both teams were playing well spirited, good footy in the slippery conditions.
Tarryn got the Rovers underway with a great goal. Kristy took a huge knock, down but not out, she was able to come back on later in the quarter.
There was some magnificent passages of play by our women. Mandy, Bianca, Zara and Taylan were leading the way. Scores Q1. Rovers 1.2.8 to UHS-VU 1.1.7.
More of the same from both sides as they game turned into a real arm wrestle and was looming as a battle of the backlines. Some of the individual highlights from our girls were;
Grace hitting the packs hard to dig out a number of possessions; Megan showing no fear going into every contest; Fran’s desperate save on the last line of defence stopped an almost certain goal to UHS!
Chloe M backline work was awesome and Chloe Mc laid some great bumps followed up with some slick ball work.
It was another great quarter but unfortunately we couldn’t hit the scoreboard, while UHS managed three points to snatch a two point lead at half time!
Scores at half time were Rovers 1.2.8 to UHS-VU 1.4.10.
In the third quarter despite our efforts, the strong opposition team was able to do some damage on the scoreboard albeit in a low scoring game.
Still some good work by Grace streaming down the wing, desperate stuff also by Kaitlyn as she made a very brave smother then two great follow up efforts.
Jaimie was giving everything she could, Bree was in and under without any fear and Kate really getting amongst the action. Scores Q3. Rovers 1.2.8 to UHS-VU 3.7.25.
Now with a handy lead UHS-VU were ‘bottling it up’ to try lock the game down. Although the Rovers weren’t done yet, however when Natasha long shot at goal just missed our chances were looking more and more slim.
Mandy’s run and baulk of four players was truly one for the highlight reel as was Fran’s tackle and Stacey’s chase down. These were all great examples of fighting the game out until the very end despite the result. Well done Rovers!
Hampton Rovers
1-2-8 1-2-8 1-2-8
1-3-9
UHS-VU 1-1-7 1-4-10
3-7-25 4-8-27
Goals: Tarryn
Best: Taylan, Fran, Megan, Chloe
McLaren
As mentioned, this Saturday coming up is a big one for the club – from 7pm we celebrate our 90th Year with a sold-out function at the Brighton Town Hall. With over 200 in attendance, it promises to be a great night. For those who missed out on tickets (and even if you did snap some up), get along to the Home Game Luncheon which will be a precursor to the big night, with Hampton Rovers Brownlow Medallist Ross Smith in attendance – just $30 per head – book online here. The Reserves and Seniors face Old Ivanhoe in two big games of footy.
