MEN’S SENIORS
RIP Lloyd.
A usually daunting task against the most successful side of the last 5 years, the senior side turned up with a spring in their step to TH King Oval against a strong SKOB's outfit.
Once again the senior side welcomed in another first gamer, Lachlan Mulcahy (that makes 10 so far this season, providing plenty of depth and excitement for the years ahead). The first quarter was a heated affair, with plenty of feeling at stoppages and a real willingness for the contest. At a usually score heavy ground, there were only 3 goals kicked for the quarter. Through some solid defensive work front Anthony Larkey and Connor Lindsay we trailed by 8 points at quarter time. Unfortunately, the quarter cost us with serious injuries to Harris Mastras and Lloyd Robertson. We wish them as speedy recoveries as possible.
Returning in the second quarter the OT boys felt like we were a chance and all the early going was to the OT end of the ground from some solid work inside work of the old firm - Gabe Hamilton, Christos Manoussakis and Ben Howell. However, it took some Sam Mason and Alex Emery magic before we were able to put it on the scoreboard though. The quarter ebbed and flowed and finished with just two points separating the teams.
At halftime, the back 6 were asked to dig deep as injuries had forced the rotation to be lost but this seemed to spur the group on and Charlie Beasley continued to do a stellar job on SKOB's star recruit Tom Boyd, and Luke Pacconi and Connor Lindsay kept rebounding the footy. Once again, OT controlled a lot of the game but kicked 2.4 to SKOB's 3 straight. Hugo McGlashan was providing outstanding pressure in his best game for the club and Myles Scott and Tom Mason were finding space with hard running.
It was game on in the last and Ed Weatherson was looking like a real problem and with Jack Lefroy lurking at his feet there it seemed like the game could break open. A couple of missed opportunities and then SKOB's seizing their few opportunities meant the game just got away from us - SKOB's by 16. A huge shout out to Anthony Larkey who played out three quarters of the game with one arm and still was at the top of every marking contest and the bottom of every pack he could get to. It showed remarkable grit and mateship to battle through.
It's only a matter of time with this team till we get our first win and build some momentum. Keep the faith OT fans.
CP31 out.
WOMEN’S SENIORS
An early start on Saturday morning saw the Seniors take on the reigning premiers in SKOB at their home ground. With two debutants named in the side, April Condon and Mel Clarke, plus the heavily anticipated return of Bridget Aughton, the girls were up and about for what was to be a great game of footy!
The game was a quick one with players opting to play on more often than not, and a tight battle around the contest. Our girls were led well around the middle by superstars Vanessa Murphy, Danika Di Santo and Sami Maus, with Bridget racking up a few clearances as well.
The backline held strong against the SKOB side with Beth Cooper laying tackles left right and centre, and April taking multiple intercept marks. A excellent late set-shot goal from Claudia Lacey got us on the board but unfortunately the SKOB girls were too strong, kicking four goals for the day.
Despite the loss, it was great to see the improvement in our new players and we are looking forward to taking on Caulfield next weekend!
Maddy Murphy
MEN’S RESERVES
It was the biggest test of the year for the reserves group, coming up against a St. Kevin’s side that has been a benchmark of the competition for the last few years and with our captains Chris Riggs and Michael Cooper both out, it was left to Jacob Sando to lead the troops.
After slow starts in the previous few weeks it’s was anything but when the ball was bounced to start the game. OTs took it right up to the home side in the opening quarter. Mids were on top early with Zappala, Krishnasamy and Macafee strolling out of the stoppages and finding targets inside 50. Our forwards were also on early taking 5 marks inside 50.
The second quarter saw immense pressure placed on our back 6. The sunkist Duncan Moore, the ever-reliable Mitch Scott, the nicest man in the world Louis Randles and the brick wall Tyler Armstrong stood up and made life difficult for their opponents.
The vibe was good on the sheds at half time and the new Skipper had the boys hanging on his every word and it showed in the third quarter. Trinity were back to our 1st quarter best. The Curtis brothers made the St. Kevin’s mids look like witches hats and Ollie Scott looked a class above. Wilson Roberts was clunking anything that came his way in an even quarter with the same amount of scoring opportunities seen for both sides.
The final term summed up the day with both teams looking strong in passages of play but St. Kevin’s being about to capitalise on goal scoring opportunities. Dario Rodgers, Will Davey and Tom Paidoussis were fantastic all day for Trinity and are certainly the next wave of fantastic Old Trinity footballers.
Although the scoreboard didn’t reflect the contest, it is clear that the reserves team is getting stronger week by week and the confidence of the group is rising.
As always, big thank you to Terry and Andy for all the work put in and to all the volunteers and injured players for making the effort to get down and help out where possible.
Bring on Brighton @ home next week!
Goal Kickers: O. Scott 3, F. Curtis, W. Macafee
Best Players: H. Winter, T. Paidoussis, L. Randles, W. Davey, O. Scott, D. Rogers
Henry Winter
WOMEN’S RESERVES
Cheeky additional home game!
After a last minute venue change, the girls were back on their home turf at the Trinity Marles Playing Fields on Saturday lunch time for a clash against the St Kevins reserves. There was plenty to write home about with a fantastic performance from our ruck-women, Ella Taig and Kenzie Bell, winning the taps around the ground, and from Ella Heaney in only her third ever game of footy.
The backline was tested across the day but held up well with super efforts from Bella Anderson coming across for the intercept marks, Daph Turney showing intense attack at the footy, Steph Samartzis and Tash Borash's awesome tackling pressure, and as always captain Tilly Dillon stepping up to thwart many certain goals.
Unfortunately the girls didn't win this week but their positivity and joy for the game is enviable. Well done girls!
Maddy Murphy
MEN’S THIRDS
Return of The Iezzi.
A crisp Saturday morning quickly turned into the perfect afternoon for football. With another successful psych-out before the bounce (Old Brighton thinking the game was on The Daley) we already banked our first win of the day.
The Thirds presented jumpers to a few new young debutants with the names of Joyce, Murphy & Iezzi. The energy in the room was certainly palpable. With Coach Beasley having given the final address down on the Hughes, you could tell the 24 Green & Gold men were dialled in.
The first five minutes was clinical. With our mids servicing our forwards with such class. Pryor doing as he pleased in the ruck, continuing his blistering form. Crease tackled with such ferocity, it made the Old Brighton midfielders second guess themselves at every scrimmage.
The Old Brighton coached seemed perplexed, with a few quotes such as ‘Did their ones have a bye this week?’ and ‘What is going on? There is not one unfit bloke out there’ to name a few.
Kicking away to an early lead, with Sam ‘Juzzman’ Joyce providing another forward target alongside Teddy Mitchell, the game was well and truly in control. A quick shout out to Alistair McIntosh for kicking goal of the year so far, from essentially the Veneto Club carpark. No doubt that would have left him good stead at the pub that night.
Our backline was as steady as ever, lead by Steve Lawrence’s cool head and Sam Cook’s aerial dominance. We also welcome back the ex 2’s skipper and classy left footer – Simon Murphy – who perfectly complemented the already settled defence.
It was a great display, with Skipper Nick Pearce demanding a four-quarter effort from his men, and his men responding. As the game went on and Trinity extended their lead, Brendan Iezzi settled into no doubt his first game on the Hughes. His elite skills and smarts left the opposition coach baffled, ‘How old is this bloke?! Like seriously this guy is bloody old!’
However, the star of the day was Tom Shiels, who has now gone back to back BOG performances in the midfield. His tenacity and grit on the field is growing week to week, some say as fast as his glorious moustache.
A brilliant display by the Thirds on a perfect Saturday afternoon for football with the final score reading OTGFC 17.9-111 def. OBFC 5.14-44.
Many thanks to all our helpers, without them, it simply would not happen.
Ed Beasley
MEN’S U23s
Heading into round 5 the optimism was high after a great away win against Collegians. The boys hit the training track hard, gearing up for a big match up against football powerhouse, St Kevin’s.
Come Saturday and the sun was shining, the birds chirping, and the boys were primed.
For many it was their first game on the mighty Daley, and for others the first in many months, and we knew its wide wings and deep pockets would give us the advantage we needed to get up against the Skobbas. Well, we hoped at least.
From the first bounce St Kevin’s showed their class. They got off to a quick start, placing us on the back foot early, and we unfortunately never recovered. The boys in the middle worked hard in the first quarter to stem this influence, with ‘Bison’ Jordan and ‘Squizzy’ Taylor providing a strong presence.
We started strong in the second, getting on the scoreboard early. Bortolussi provided a strong target inside 50, as well as Barendgret further up the ground. The highlight however, was a dashing run from Simondson from full-back to half-forward, who continued to impress for the remainder of the game.
St Kevin’s run and ability to link up with their forwards made it difficult for our defenders. They consistently lowered their eyes and found targets inside 50 and goaled from almost every set-shot they had. Despite this, Arrowsmith and Basser ensured a tough contest, and Konstantopoulos provided great pace and rebound off half back. The Carey-crossovers Murray and Chatfield provided great run and toughness respectively, which was particularly impressive in Chatfield’s case after returning from a concussion sustained a fortnight earlier.
The boys continued to fight all day, and while it was not the result we were after, there were nonetheless positive signs and patches of good play that we will build on for next week.
We currently sit one win outside of the top 4 and face another strong side in Old Xavs next week. While there will be many tired legs following the game on the Daley come training Monday, the boys will be itching to get back on the track ahead of another home game, hopefully in the same sunny conditions.
Finally, a big thankyou to all the volunteers, including the injured boys helping run waters and the boundary, the trainers, coaches and oranges/snake suppliers – your efforts do not go unnoticed.
Final Score: OTs 4.4-28, St Kevin’s. 21.18-144
BOG: Chris Amiconi who laced up for the thirds after coaching.
Alex Warren
MEN’S U19s
They say a week is a long time in football and didn’t that ring true for the Under 19 Div 1 side this week. After a valiant yet heavy defeat at the hands of top placed Mazenod last week, Saturday presented an important opportunity for the T’s to keep the wheels turning and prove the worth of the side. With changes aplenty, Henry Brown, Angus Scott, Jordan Bateman and Anthony Apos were all welcomed into the side following strong and consistent performances in the 2’s.
The match started with Old Trinity trying to send a message to their opposition and the wider competition . A six goal to one first quarter saw the OT’s get off to a fast start and asserted their dominance from the outset. hard-nosed midfielders such as Luke Scobie and Jack Cooper were integral in getting the ball forward of centre, as were our defenders such as Paul Lindsay and George Belcher who used their skills down back to run, carry and spread across the width of the Hudson oval. Back in the side following a week out with a knee injury, co-captain Louis Davidson was back to his usual tricks of making defenders look silly. With three goals for the day, the thought of being in a one-on-one against Davidson is no doubt causing sleepless nights for opposition defenders.
The second quarter proved to be more of an arm-wrestle. Fitzroy upped their pressure and began to win more of the contested ball. Showing speed and skills that Old Trinity were able to stop in the first quarter, Fitzroy put OT’s under significant pressure with the ball in their half for much of the quarter. However, the back six stood firm. Led by Tim Rasdell – who made the call during the week that he wanted to lock down the most dangerous – OTs were able to limit Fitzroy to two goals for the quarter. Rasdell did it all; in the air, on the ground, in one-on-one’s and in contested situations he kept his opponent goalless and selflessly played an important role for the team. Harris Plowman, too, continued his fine run of form to start the year, dominating from half back and consistently locking down on the opposition’s best forward.
Despite the five-goal lead, the general mood was that we had a contest on our hands.
They also say that the third quarter is the premiership quarter, and again Old Trinity showed why they will be a threat come the business end of the year. A dominant six-goal to one quarter was off the back of hard and unrewarded running from Xenos, Brown, DeGraff, Moran and Teal. Xenos – who mirrors that of the Demons number 5 with his power and explosiveness, worked across the ground, booting three goals and had an abundance of the footy. Brown, DeGraff and Moran also marvelled, showing that they were some of the fittest guys on the ground, kicking 8 goals between them, all from the midfield. Similarly, Teal was back to his best, setting up plenty of goals and kicking two of his own.
The last quarter saw Old Trinity extend their lead, turning a good display into a dominant four-quarter performance.
Back on the winners list, we look forward to round 6.
The entire U19 community would also like to wrap their arms around Harris Mastras, who suffered an ankle injury in the seniors this weekend that will see him out of action for a while. A great footballer and an even better person, we wish him well in his recovery.
Daniel McNab
MEN’S U19s RESERVES
What a magnificent day!
Couldn’t ask for better conditions for our second home game, this time on the grass carpet named the Hudson. Any SKOBS side is a danger side so we went into the game with a defend first mindset whilst we measured up how the game would evolve.
Captain for the day was Tom Mullins with Ethan Westermann deputising. First gamers for the year were Jon “DA” Poynton and “The Commish” Jim Gorton. Jack Stewart also made a welcome return from an ankle injury.
As expected, the heat was on from the first bounce with the T’s mids and forwards working very hard from turnovers with SKOBS often coughing up the ball from our pressure. Lach McLean was providing plenty of leading options with Tommy “Machine Gun” Stewart providing the deeper option and converting majors. Gradually we got on top and the quarter time score was the T’s up by 2 goals, 4.3 to 2.0.
We lined up the same way in the second quarter and pleasing to say we just continued our relentless pressure all over the ground. The back 6 this quarter were magnificent, not letting the opposition score, led as always by the “Colonel” with Hughie Bowman also proving to be a rock at centre half back. Toby Yeats and Hugo Taylor started to get their motors running with goals and if only our radar was on then the half time score could have been really something. Main break - 8.8.56 to 2.0.
After a cooling our jets at the half time break in the sheds, some positional changes were made after Luka Argent succumbed to a hip complaint after a really solid set of first half contests took the toll on his body.
The third quarter was more of an arm wrestle with the honours shared on the scoreboard but our forwards were reading the ball well in the air, we had plenty of defensive running and the mids continued to work hard both ways. Costa Barres and Harry Ormond stepped up their efforts and shone in the 3rd quarter. The Super Fast Train was really starting to get the hang of this ruck business and was giving our players first use at most stoppages. Think we have found a ruckman! Hugo Taylor with a courageous mark and goal was the highlight of the quarter. Last break, T’s up by 50, 11.10.76 to 4.2.26.
We impressed on the boys that great sides alway finish off games and that we were to roll and go and take the game on at all opportunities. SKOBS however didn’t read the script and started the last with a bit of fire, probably the old pride in the jumper routine. A couple of early goals against us but the T’s turned it around in the mids with Lach Wong and “The Sage” continuing their great midfield games. The T’s finished strongly as requested with the final 3 goals of the match. Jack Stewart was all over the field providing forward options, dobbed a major and nearly screwed snap for another. Overall, a lot of missed opportunities with errant kicking but it was really just relentless forward and mid and defensive pressure that did it for us.
A big shout out to the big man down forward, “Chunky” Lach McLean, whilst he didn’t have the radar working with the boot, took 12 contested marks and gave the T’s everything he had in every contest.
Final score: OT 14.16.100 def SKOBS 6.5.41
Goals: T Stewart 3, J Stewart 2, L Wong 2, Yeats, 2, Taylor 2, Carroll, Barres, Buckley
Best: J Stewart, Wong, Park, McLean, Bowman, Stewart, Yeats, Taylor
Coach Poss