:: Reserves Report - By ‘The Red Leg’.


Some players lost their e-Tag, some lost their way, but most of us left our form at home against Old Essendon.

And by the time we found it again after quarter-time we were staring down the barrel of a 26-point deficit.

That we managed to outscore Essendon from that point on not only showed it was a game we could have won but also made the loss that much more painful.

“It was shattering to see,” Jenks whispered to Jake’s dog Bear as he teased him with his pie and sauce. “I was so upset after the game I had to watch surveillance videos of Bunny at Village Bell to cheer me up.”

The loss knocked us out of the top four, leaving us with a do-or-die battle against Beaumaris this week. Lose this and we’ll be two games out of the four, win it and we’ll again be fourth.

However, there were plenty of positives. Considering the inexperienced side we had, to fight back after being outplayed in the first quarter was most pleasing.

Hoppy, the Spy and Da Vinci belied their status as first-year senior players with an extremely courageous performance. Da Vinci, in particular, deserves praise for leaving the goal square to be bait for the opposition ruckmen.

“I prefer being full-forward where I can kick sausage rolls rather than playing in the ruck against guys who have eaten too many sausage rolls,” Da Vinci mused to the canteen lady after the game.

Cheesecake and Selbs also prospered once we kicked the ball to their advantage.

“Who would have thought the two biggest pests at the club could be of use?” Cheesecake joked in the rooms. “Selbs took some nice marks and Archie gave me some nice encouragement before he dropped all his whiteboard magnets.”

Thanks to Junior Mitch for his extremely honest umpiring - Deano, your ‘Honest’ nickname is at risk - and Jenks for running the boundary.

And all the best to Con Theodoulou who is embarking on a sojourn to Europe to see the world and visit Max Rooke’s hamstring surgeon.

Tags: A. Ray, A. Wu, Essendon Grammar, G. Tsiotras, J. Dixon, P. Grundy, T. Code