The Lee Perkins Memorial Game.
The boys travelled to Mt Gravatt 6 June with their
tails between their legs after an ordinary effort at a cold, windy Toowoomba
the week before. This was a “must
win” game for us and it was always going to be a challenge against the top side
at their home ground.
The feeling through the first couple of quarters was
good. It was obvious Mt Gravatt
were a well-drilled football side. They led at the main break by 13 points but our boys were hanging in and
really matching them with the physical side of the game. That was all about to change in the 3rd. The coaches couldn’t single out any
best players at this point as the entire team were digging deep.
The third quarter proved to be the turning point for the
Cats. We completely out-muscled
them and beat them with the physical hard-ball gets causing the Vultures to
make some costly turnovers. Some
big tackles by Wattsy and Timmy Benson inspired the entire team to dig
deep. This resulted in the deficit
being only 5 points going into the last term. The boys really had to pull out something special in the last,
as the strong wind was favouring the Vultures and that was definitely the
scoring end.
The last quarter was like an edge of your seat, suspense
thriller... Early goals by the Cats put us in front for the first time in the
game and it looked like all the hard work was paying off. Then the Vultures found something again
and kicked another couple on us to regain the lead.
Enter Shae Killey. With about 7 minutes to go we needed some inspiration. With the ball coming down into our
forward line Shae decided to take the “mark of the year,” which resulted in a
Cats goal. He was about to be
outdone for mark of the year 2 minutes later... By himself... Another great
grab in the forward line gave us the momentum to hold on and win by 10
points.
It was a fantastic effort by the entire team and to beat the
top side at their home ground was a tremendous feat.
The game held a more important milestone than the win
itself. The game was to mark the 9th
year of the Lee Perkins Memorial game. As it was my first year at the Club, this game showed me the importance
of this day to all the players in the group. They all played their hearts out. And they were never going to lose on this special day for
the Club and more importantly, the Perkins family.
Well done lads.
A big congratulations to our captain, Nick Sheehan for
taking out the Lee Perkins medal.
Final Score: Mt Gravatt 9 5 59 def by Broadbeach 6 13 49
Goals: Van Rooyen, Hogan-Smith 2, O'Rourke, Killey, Cole, Sheehan
Best: Sheehan, Killey, Van Rooyen, Christie, Sauer, Nibbs
Morningside at Broadbeach – 20th June..
We were finally back at home after two tough trips on the
road. With Al Lawson away in the
United States searching for better mobile phone coverage, the coaching was left
to Kurt Krebs. By the way, does anybody
know why Al is in the States?
Before we begin we need to dispel any rumours around the
Club that the “Old Boys” beat us in a practice match on Wednesday night. That is simply not true. Next game we are going to ask the old
boys to be “skins.” We will definitely
give prior warning to the club so that any young children or ladies present can
leave before the game, so they are not frightened by the sight of our elders
running around with their shirts off. We must say a big thanks to the old boys who stayed around at the club on
Sunday and gave our lads a heap of support. Thanks guys...
Anyway we faced another “must win” game to cement a spot
with the other 6 teams vying for finals berths. With only 2 wins separating top spot to 8th on
the ladder, the competition this year was shaping up as a real close
affair.
Morningside were last years under 18 Premiers so to
underestimate the strength of the Panthers could cost us 4 points and a spot in
the top four.
The first quarter was our best start to a game this year and
with the might of our backline and centre combinations working perfectly,
Morningside watched us pour on 5 goals in the space of twelve minutes. At last our forward line is starting to
look and work like a well oiled machine. Jackson Cole booted 3 in the first quarter to give us a 28 point lead
going into the 2nd.
Not our best quarter of football. To the Panther’s credit they obviously received a blast at
quarter time and came out firing. They matched us with the physical side of
the game and kept us goal less to their 2 goals 3. We held onto a 17 point lead at half time and we needed to
lift coming back out from the main break.
The 3rd proved to be very similar to the 2nd
where both teams were engaged in an arm wrestle to kick goals. The game started to become a little
scrappy but we held onto a 33 point lead going into the last after a couple of
late goals by the Cats.
The Panthers had the help of a breeze at their backs in the
last and the team needed to hold strong and fight hard to hold onto the
match. Again we started the last
quarter like the first. Full of
run and support and suddenly we had skipped out to a 46 point lead with 9
minutes to go. Then we decided to have a sleep for 5 minutes and the Panthers
kicked 4 quick goals on us. We had
only allowed them to kick 2 goals in three and a half quarters of football and
after a lack of commitment and effort by the Cats, they kicked 4 in five
minutes.
We went on to win by 22 points. Another great win. BUT.. The lads agreed we need to play football for 80
minutes. Not in dribs and drabs.
Final Score: Broadbeach 10 4 64 def Morningside 6 6 42
Goals: Cole 5, Ryder 2, Killey 2, O'Rourke 1
Best: Nibbs, Christie, Cole, Ryder, Kolka, Dienjes
Special mention to some of our best. Mitch Nibbs in the
backline. What a great game. Keep
it up mate. The usual suspects,
Jacko with 5 and Jimmy Christie in the Centre. Great efforts by Scotty Ryder, Luke Dempsey with his first
game in the ruck, Josh Kolka and Stewy Ramsey.
Southport next week.
A special thanks to the under 18 players who helped out with
training the little Auskick kids on Friday night. We are going to make this a regular occurrence.. Thanks guys. See you all on the track Wednesday night.
By the way. I
called Al after the game to tell him of the win. It was 3:50am in the States but he still wanted to know all
the details. He then started
talking about Richmond so I hung up..
Last Modified on 21/06/2010 16:26