ANZAC Day is always a great day at the Club and last Saturday was no exception. With representatives of the Hampton RSL present, including new President Tom Concaig and stalwart Bill Mirabito, two tables of relatives of past player Wylie Austin who passed away late last year and whose life with the Rovers was celebrated, the Club’s only Brownlow Medal winner Ross Smith with the son of his late brother Lance (another past player), our Viet Vet in Alan Hill and a host of long time supporters around, it was a time for remembrance.
A haunting ceremony before the main game and as the Last Post was played the hush over the ground could only give you goose bumps, immaculately respected by the healthy crowd in attendance.
The footy was challenging. The Under 19s were overwhelmed in their third game up in U19 Premier, but as the game wore on you could see the sparks of hope for the future. While on the U19s a big congratulations to Caggs for being selected as the coach of the VAFA U19 team for the representative game against Bendigo to be held mid-year. A great honour to a bloke who shows fantastic commitment to footy. The Women’s team again played very well but just couldn’t get on top of Oakleigh and went down in a thriller at Castlefield.
The Ressies were jumped by the opposition in the first quarter and as the game wore on, they narrowed the gap to be just a few points in it in Q4, but fell by 11 points against a Old Trinity team loaded with school talent. In the Seniors we battled hard all day and when you realise we had come back by three quarter time to be 1 goal and some points behind we were looking good. We just couldn’t hang on in the last to go down by 32 points – a great advance over the first couple of rounds against a quality team firmly entrenched in the top of Premier B and featuring former GWS and Melbourne AFL player Adam Tomlinson making his debut.
Senior Men
Report from Rovers coach Marty Pask:
We played a very strong and experienced side that will do very well this season. It was a great learning opportunity for our younger players who I felt took giant steps forward. I understand that OT had 7 current or former listed AFL/VFL players in their team! We currently have 14 players playing under 21 years of age. Through adversity comes opportunity and they are being exposed to a very strong competition. The learnings they are gaining are major insights on how to compete at a higher level. The improvement over 3 weeks is terrific and as much as the scoreboard says differently – it’s a delight to coach given how much you are actually coaching and they are learning at the moment. They take information and action it well.
We will gain experience as the weeks go by and have a really good mix of players who are up to the level. This will set our side up for many more years to come and we keep evolving. Players like Hall, Crawford, Jensen-Muir, Ziesing and Seddon are only 19 and were terrific. The leaders like Carnovale, J Melnjak, Crisp, O’Driscoll and Perkins have been terrific how they are committing to the group. As hard as the results may look now, but when you have a Blake Jensen Muir playing on a 30yr old ex VFL Captain and a Dan Hall kicking 2 match defining goals in the 3rd quarter – you need to pause and understand these are 19 year old boys. We can only invest and teach.
| Hampton Rovers Senior Men’s | 2.0 12 | 3.0 18 | 9.3 57 | 10.3 63 |
| Old Trinity Senior Men’s | 3.3 21 | 8.7 55 | 10.9 69 | 14.11 95 |
Best: Harry Crisp, Blake Jensen-Muir, Chris Perkins, Christian Carnovale, Dillon Melnjak, Joel Melnjak
Goals: Liam D’Driscoll 3, Dan Hall 2, Josh McPherson 2, Ryan Leslie 1, Will Crawford 1, Max Blackie 1
Senior Women
The Rovers women went down in the wet by 11 points to a very strong Oakleigh team at Castlefield Reserve.
Great games from Millie Smith, Hollie Brodribb, Mandy Naylor, Tiara Annear and young gun Isla Tucker. Skipper Shae Raywood led wonderfully with a huge team focused effort.
A tough low scoring encounter where we were still in the hunt until late in the game.
Our younger players are gaining valuable experience which will hopefully set us up for a late season tilt at the finals.
Congrats to Chelsea Bowen on playing game 200. We’re privileged to have Chelsea at the rovers.
Other highlights were Maddy playing her first rovers game and Alana getting on the park in the last quarter when we ran out of players.
All the best to our players who sustained injuries on Saturday. Recover well.
Richmond away next Saturday.
| Hampton Rovers Senior Women’s | 1.0 6 | 1.1 7 | 2.3 15 | 3.3 21 |
| Oakleigh Senior Women’s | 2.1 13 | 3.1 19 | 3.2 20 | 5.2 32 |
Best: Millie Smith, Mandy Naylor, Hollie Brodribb, Tiara Annear, Isla Tucker, Shae Raywood
Goals Maegan Miller 1, Madeline Pearson 1, Grace Bonanno 1
Under 19’s
The Rovers U19’s team fought hard early in the game but before we knew it we were 3 goals down. We went inside 50 several times to be caught out of position and as a result only kicked 3 points for the quarter. The highlights included Nathan Astill and Hudson Thompson putting their bodies on the line and receiving 3 free kicks for hard fought footy. Mason Carrigan came into the game and was rewarded with several holding the ball decisions in the 2nd and last quarters. Harry Ockerby took the mark of the day and Jake Seddon kept rackingt up possessions. Every player had a moment of positive reflection, unfortunately the opposition on the day was too good for us. Our guys need to train at a pace that is reflective of the game speed, that is our challenge going forward. Great to see Pasky mention Blake Jensen Muir and Dan Hall for their efforts in the seniors.
Hampton Rovers 2.4 16
St Bedes/Mentone 27.14 176
Best Jake Seddon, Cohen Friend, Mason Carrigan, Harry Ockerby, Nathan Astill
Goals: Jake Grima 1, Cohen Friend 1
Reserves
A positive performance by the Ressies who gave the visitors a head start, but performed better as the game progressed, finishing the stronger of the two sides. There was not much in it at the final break and just a few points separated the teams during the final term, keeping the crowd inside the Luncheon entertained and cheering every goal. A goal late to Old Trinity sealed the win for them.
Hampton Rovers 8.7 63
Old Trinity 9.12 98
Best: Shelton Hegarty, Scott Ebbott, James Bull, Jake Klinkhamer, Joel Bowditch, Tom Goldsmith
Goals: Scott Ebbott 1, Jake Klinghamer 1, Joel Bowditch, Jack Scanlan 1, Toby Linnegan 2, Zach Raghdo 1
NEXT WEEK
SATURDAY WEEK MAY 10
HOME V FITZROY FOR THE SENSATIONAL LADIES DAY LUNCH.
BOOK EARLY SO THAT YOU DON’T MISS OUT. Bookings available online now or book the usual way through Nashy.
