Round 15: Saturday, 6 August 2011.
Old Melburnians v De La Salle at the Junction Oval.
Seniors.
1st quarter: OM 0.3.3 DLS 2.5.17
2nd quarter: OM 2.4.16 DLS 7.8.50
3rd quarter: OM 6.4.40 DLS 11.10.76
Fulltime: OM 8.6.54 DLS 15.16.106
Goals: Cam Beck (3), Lachie Bennett (2), Rod Matthews (1), Ben McKie (1), Tom Davidson (1).
Best: Adam Morgan, Billy Irving, Al Armstrong, Sam Playfair, Nick Madders, Lachie Bennett.
By Lurch.
Rain stopped shortly before this game began, providing perfect and sunny playing conditions. The game was reasonably free-flowing, with De La going forward more frequently, but the OMs were fortunate that De La twice hit the post. Lachie Bennett had two set shots from the NE pocket but despite the kicks looking good, both were offline. De La’s first goal came early in the quarter, with its second coming nearer the end. In between, it was a good contest, with both sides defending strongly. The Dark Blues were playing reasonably well, but could not manage quite the same intensity they brought to the start of the game against Collegians last week. De La Salle had a shot after the siren from over 40m out, but the kick fell short. It was a disappointing quarter in that the OMs’ play deserved a few goals on the board, but kicking to pockets made the forwards’ few opportunities difficult.
De La missed an early shot at goal in the second quarter. The OMs went forward, Bennett handed it off, and Cam Beck, running forward, grabbed the footy and kicked the OMs’ first goal on the run. It was 9-18. Minutes later Beck got the footy in the SE pocket, and with time to spare threw the footy on the boot for a lazy shot at goal which fell just before the line and was rushed through. Ben McKie then took a great pack mark that was not paid, but he received a free kick and goaled. De La then kicked an easy goal to make the margin 16-24. It then added further goals with ease as the blue and golds ran free, the OMs failing to take responsibility for their opponents, chasing them only when it was too late. It was a performance which quite rightly earned the boys the ire of their coach at halftime.
The OMs went forward from the first bounce of the third quarter. The footy was soon in the goal square, where Beck snaffled a goal out of traffic. De La responded with a goal from the centre bounce, and added interest with a second soon afterwards. Sam Playfair brought the footy out of defence, starting a passage of play which ended with a long kick to Beck, whose goal took the scores to 28-62. The footy went both ways for a while before the OMs went forward, where Bennett marked and goaled. Jeremy Beaumont had been moved to fullback, where he ran back to save a certain De La goal. De La kicked more goals before Nick Voyage’s perfect long kick from the east wing put the footy in front of Bennett, who ran onto it and marked strongly. He kicked a goal from directly in front. It was 40-76 and it was the last score of the quarter. Although the margin was slightly more than at halftime, it was a better quarter, and one of the OMs’ better third quarters this year.
At three-quarter time the OMs were down by 36 points. The margin was theoretically surmountable, but the fact De La had over double the scoring shots suggested that getting the opportunities to score the required goals would be tough. De La spent a long time in attack, where it was vigorously defended by the OMs. A free kick in the backline gave Playfair the opportunity to go through the middle, giving Tom Davidson a mark. His shot at goal was offline and fell short, where Bennett fed the footy to Rod Matthews for a goal. De La scored a quick goal in response and it was 47-84. After another De La goal the OMs went forward. A De La defender tried kicking the goal-ward bound footy off the ground, but instead executed an “airy”, so the ball continued through to the waiting Davidson who soccered it through for a goal. De La then spent the remainder of the quarter kicking goals, and also had a kick after the final siren which was deemed touched after a lengthy consultation in the goal square.
It was yet another game which had to be won to avoid relegation. That the team remains seriously undermanned due to injury and players having VFL duties is a fact, but it is equally undeniable that most of the boys who played could have done better.
Adam Morgan was the OMs’ best player. He fought hard all day and set an example which more should have followed. With Nick De Steiger wearing a puffy black North Face vest on the sidelines instead of a Dark Blue jumper in the middle, Morgan shared the ruck duties with Billy Irving all day. Irving battled bigger opponents with his superior leap and did a great job in the ruck in what was a very tough day at the office. Al Armstrong again played a very good game, and while not as consistent as his game against Collegians, was still very valuable and showed that he is becoming an increasingly excellent player. Sam Playfair probably played his best game of the season. He spent time in the middle, and had some very useful runs and raking long kicks up the ground. Nick Madders played with flair and hard running and Lachie Bennett presented well all day, giving others opportunities, and was unlucky that he was not given more and better opportunities to score goals.
There were some interesting results this round. Old Carey did the right thing by the OMs by defeating Old Scotch. Old Haileybury did the wrong thing by beating Old Trinity to move off the bottom of the ladder, putting the Bloods a game ahead of the OMs. The Old Xaverians gave Collegians a six goal pasting to remind them that September is approaching and it belongs to those in red and black.
Three games remain. Next week the OMs take on Old Haileybury at McKinnon Reserve. This is the situation:
7th: Old Trinity 22 points
8th: Old Scotch 18 points
9th: Old Haileybury 16 points
10th: Old Melburnians 12 points
St. Bedes (2nd) play Old Trinity and Old Scotch plays Old Xaverians (3rd). The following week the OMs play Old Carey (currently 5th) at the Junction Oval, Uni Blues (currently 4th) play Old Scotch, Old Xaverians play Old Trinity and De La plays Old Haileybury. In the last round St. Bedes plays the OMs, Old Scotch plays De La, Old Trinity plays University Blues and Old Haileybury plays Collegians.
In a season where no game is easy and there continue to be surprises, the only certain thing is that the OMs have to win, and pray the teams above them do the right thing.