Round 7 Match Review, 2023
Senior Men's Match Report
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Old Haileybury 14.14-98
Old Melburnians 20.11-131
Round 7 and we hosted Old Melburnians on a dry day at Princess Park.
After a frustrating couple of weeks where we had let some opportunities slip, we were looking forward to getting back on the winners list.
Preparing for the game was about bringing our best efforts and enjoying playing with our mates.
From the first bounce we took the initiative and were constantly putting OMS under pressure. Our intensity around the ball was great and with 5 minutes to go in the quarter we led by 22 points. Unfortunately, we gave up 3 easy goals late but still led at the first break by 4 points.
We started the 2nd term well as Jack Munro looked dangerous and put 2 goals on the board in quick fashion. Our problem was that their ball movement was starting to look dangerous and after kicking 6 goals for the quarter our opposition led 9 points at the halfway mark.
We needed to respond and shut down OMS by producing turnovers and hurting them on the scoreboard. Pleasingly we kicked 5.5 for the quarter and had our noses back in front with 1 quarter to go with a 7-point margin.
The last quarter was going to be about who made the most of their opportunities up forward. Disappointingly it was our opposition who dominated the first 15 minutes of the term kicking 6 goals to our zero as they took control of the game. In the end it was a disappointing 33-point loss where when the game was up for grabs, we were not at our best. Another week and some more lessons to take away that we need to play at the required level for 120 minutes.
Individually Will Paul lead our backline that tried valiantly with Hugo Nosiara, Jimmy Paul and Max Sinclair all contributing.
In the middle Trevo, Gassy, Brodie, Corey Rich, Max Sievers, Rosey and Liam Wood all worked their backsides off to give us opportunity for our forwards.
Up front in positive signs for the future 2 of our younger boys in Harry Jones and Charlie Sinclair had their best games for the year.
Harry jumped at the footy with confidence finishing with 4 goals and Charlie’s ability to pressure the opposition and lock it in our forward line was fantastic highlighted by the fact he had the most tackles of our group with 9 for the day. We also have Max Walstab who has come up from the Under 19s and is showing some promising signs as a mobile forward.
Next up for us is a trip to Xavier College to play Old Xavs and it has been moved to a Sunday. We look forward to a great week on the track and taking some learnings out of this game into Sunday.
Thank you for your support.
Go Bloods.
For full pictorial coverage of the Seniors' match against Melburnians, go to the Gallery
Men's Reserves Match Report
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Old Haileybury 05.02.32
Old Melburnians 20.12-132
Round 7 – vs Old Melburnians
In Round 7, we faced Old Melburnians at Princes Park. Our coach faced some challenges before the game as we lost Justin Davies to the VFL just half an hour before the bounce, and Tarli Reed sustained an injury at work late on Friday. However, we were fortunate that Josh Gillon, Bailey Yates, and Nick Giustiniano stepped up to play reserves after their game in the 19's.
Old Melburnians proved to be a skilful and agile team, particularly effective with their foot skills, which put our defence under pressure at times. The return of Will Gown and the inclusion of Castan Racunica demonstrated their experience in senior football. Despite the tough competition, we remained highly competitive throughout the day, especially in the first half. However, in the last quarter, fatigue set in, and we ultimately lost by a margin of 100 points.
Looking ahead, we are preparing to face Xavier on Sunday at the school ground. It will be a special occasion as Jack Grenda and Jordan Johnston will be playing their 50th games. We aim to regroup and give our best performance in this upcoming match.
Goal Kickers: 2 Castan Racunica, Josh Gillon, Cooper Nolan, Jacob Gown and Will Gown T
Best Players: Castan Racunica, Jacob Gown, Will Gown, Jack Grenda, Connor Chow, and Jordan Johnston.
Women's Match Report
Brought to you by the OHA
Old Haileybury 06.05-41
Old Geelong 03.08-26
The Hearts returned to Princes Park to play the Hampton Rovers in our round 7 clash and it’s fair to say that our girls were happy to be back onto a smaller oval. We knew that this one would be another tough contest with our group keen to get back onto the winner’s list. Maddie & Loz spoke really nicely about Alana Hall in the team meeting as Alana was celebrating her 50 game milestone with the Hearts. The girls were keen to do it for Alana and it was noce to have her parents in the room during the pre match. Our group wore black armbands to acknowledge the contribution of Alan Ross, a great OHAFC past player and supporter who passed away during the week.
The Hearts were on from the start and were keen to enjoy their footy today. Chels was fired up in the ruck and was giving first use of the ball to Junior, Tay & Eloise who won early clearances. After repeat entries, Ella got on the end of a great handball and kicked our first major of the day. Our backs were holding up really well and working together and rebounding with some great run and carry. Quarter time and the Hearts were up by 12 points and had control of this one.
The girls were having fun and knew that they needed to maintain this effort. Unfortunately, we lost Holly to injury which left Chels as our sole ruck for the rest of the game. This one had become an arm wrestle during the second & third quarters with the Hearts keen to maintain their ascendancy. Having some rotations off the interchange which we had lacked in recent weeks was helping us to have fresh legs. We were 10 points up at half time and despite a late goal from Hampton in the third, we maintained a 9 point lead at ¾ time.
The Hearts were determined not to let this one slip and were full of running during the last quarter. To the delight of the crowd, Tay and Bella each kicked a great goal to become multiple goal scorers. The effort of our girls all over the ground was sensational with every single player having a real crack. Hampton tried valiantly to lift but our girls were able to finish this one off strongly to run out 15 point winners. The song was sung with gusto as the girls got around Alana to make this a memorable day for her.
Go Hearts !
Under 19's Match Report
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St Kevin's 05.07-37
Old Haileybury 17.14-116
Old Haileybury U19’s Played host to St Kevins on Saturday. All the players have been working hard and at training and were rewarded with a fantastic win. We had some of our injured players return this week and it proves that when we are at full strength, we will be able to compete against most teams in the competition.
Once again Hugo Lynch was impassable across half back and he was complimented by the run and spread of Nick Giustiniano as we kept driving the ball forward to give our forwards plenty of opportunities.
All our forwards had a great day with the hard work we have been doing on delivering the ball into our forward line paying off. It was coming in fast, and they were committed to giving multiple efforts when the ball was in there giving our backs and mids time to set up behind the ball. Matty Cowells hard efforts at the contests, enabled us to have multiple repeated entries. Bailey Yates continued to present all day and played a great game.
Raising The Bar
Goal Kickers: Anderson 5, Williamson, Black, Dippa, Connell 2, Topham, Fuleky, Hendrie, Abraham 1
Best players: Anderson, Lynch, Connell, Giustiniano, Abraham, Yates