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Seniors vs Old Ivanhoe
After a long pre-season we would kick off our first game in B grade with a rematch with last year’s C grade Premiers Old Ivanhoe. Always a tough team to beat at home especially after unfurling their 3 Premiership flags in front of a large vocal crowd.
We would go into the match with 2 debutants Josh Gale recruited back from Old Scotch and Big man Garnet Brennan up from the unders after some solid pre- season form.
The first half wasn’t pretty with both sides making plenty of nervous skill errors and wasting many forward entries. While the mistakes were plentiful the pressure was intense from both sides Jay Kennedy Harris found plenty of the ball early and Ben Hart enjoying his new role down back was in everything early. Our boys refusing to take a backward step and more than matching our more fancied opponents going into the long break 4 points in front.
The third would see us gain some ascendency with Liam Thomas taking some towering marks up forward with some great support from the elusive Harry Laukens and dangerous small Caleb Finlayson. Our mids Jimmy Allen , Harry Veitch & Dave Mccoll were also starting to take control in the thanks to some fine service from big Captain Gus Milham .
The last quarter saw Ivanhoe throw everything at us and quality players from Ivanhoe Murphy & McLean were able to wrestle the score back in favour of the home side . With 4 minutes to go the Wellers were 7 points down but refused to lie down and against all momentum kicked the last 2 goals curtesy of young debutant Gale and another from the talented Harry Mccoll to claim a much-deserved victory.
A huge team effort to kick start out season in Prem B.
Thanks to all supporters on the day
Best Players: Ben Hart, Lachlan O’Neill, Harry Veitch, Gus Milham, Harry McColl, Thomas Oliver
Goal Kickers: Liam Thomas 3, Harry McColl 2, Will Dalrymple 1, Caleb Finlayson 1, Ben Hart 1, David McColl 1, Harry Laukens 1
Anson Brownless
Senior Coach
Reserves vs Old Ivanhoe
Best Players: Harrison Kimmitt, Jamie Schreuder, Max Clark, Andrew Parker, Oscar Cirulis, Lachlan Purcell
Goal Kickers: Alex Taverner 2, Harrison Kimmitt 1, James Seaton-Nichol 1
Thirds vs South Melbourne
The Thirds had a late change of opponent and location and ended up facing South Melbourne at GBO. After a successful round 1, we were looking at another potentially successful game with a side bolstered by some reserves players. Marc Dalla Rivawas outstanding all day, spending time across all 3 lines. Will Woods was an intercept marking machine and Dom Rossetti barely lost a ruck contest all day. One of the biggest stories of the day was Brett Cottrell celebrating his 200th game in style with a bag of 5 goals. There are another 20 players unlucky not to get an individual shout out as it was a brilliant performance across the ground.
Best Players: Marc Dalla Riva, William Woods, Brett Cottrell, Dominic Rossetti, Oliver Purcell, Fraser Wells
Goal Kickers: Brett Cottrell 5, Marc Dalla Riva 3, Max Kearley 3, Harry Rice 2, Matt Cottrell 1, Nicholas Gooden 1, Timothy Heavey 1, Sean Larkin 1, Tom Masanauskas 1, Dominic Rossetti 1, Fraser Wells 1
Harley Beechey
3rds Coach
U19 vs South Melbourne
Best Players: Brodie Carswell, Aden Shinnick, Samuel Woods, Ben Joy, Benjamin Gale, Charles Robertson
Goal Kickers: Brodie Carswell 4, Simon Lewison 1, Lachie Ross 1
Women vs Old Hailebury
The Wackettes headed to Princes Park to face Old Haileybury in Round 1. Yes, you heard right – The Wackettes – a combination of the Wellers of Old Camberwell and the Jackettes of Ajax – took to the field after a last minute merger was negotiated. With thanks to Jim Smith and many others at the club, our girls were on the park after it looked a little dicey a month ago. The two groups of girls have come together brilliantly after a handful of training sessions and a practice match. This was shown by the fact that a few of the Ajax girls joined in at the pub crawl last Saturday night!
Michael Ford (who played 98 AFL games for the Doggies and the Saints) joined me in coaching the team as the Ajax coach. Voges is our Team Manager extraordinaire as she has a season off recovering from ACL surgery.
With a list of 32, a number of girls get rostered off each week. We have a full bench of six and therefore the coaching crew employed a NASA super computer to work out the rotations. A brilliantly prepared rotation schedule was thrown out the window half way through the first quarter when we couldn’t get any of the girls off the ground.
The Wackettes intensity could not be questioned through the first half as Old Haileybury got on top early but the girls fought back with a great goal to Maclyn Matheson. Two goals behind at half time, we got the first goal of the third quarter when Prue Stoyles converted beautifully from 30 metres. We continued to press but couldn’t get that elusive next goal. They scored two late ones and at ¾ time we were 23 points down. The magnets were thrown around at ¾ time (perhaps a little too much) and OH kicked away in the last quarter.
Strong contributions were made by many but the best of the OC girls included a gallant Izzy Dedoncker in the ruck, Emma Hooper cutting them off across half back, Gabby Bianco at the bottom of every pack and Bella Griffin showing them a clean pair of heels in the mid-field.
Despite the result there were a lot of positives to take away as the girls all get used to playing together.
We look forward to Round 2 where Club Legend Bec Kertes plays her 50th game for the club at GBO.
Best Players: Isabel Dedoncker, Isabella Griffin, Gabriella Bianco, Julia Caplan, romy klooger, Justine Gabriel
Goal Kickers: Maclyn Matheson 1, Prue Stoyles 1
Nick Hooper
Women's Coach
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