2016 ROUND 12 V PARKDALE VULTURES

Teams	1st Q.	2nd Q.	3rd Q.	4th Q.
Beaumaris	3.4:22	6.6:42	9.9:63	10.14:74
Parkdale Vultures	1.3:9	3.8:26	4.9:33	5.12:42
Goalkickers : Stephen Milne 3, Lachlan Boyd 2, Will Edmonds 2, Josh Ward, Will Murton 1, Drew Kelly 1.

No	Player	No	Player	No	Player	No	Player
2	Robert Cathcart	3	Matt Petering	7	Tom Dean	8	Josh Ward
11	Scott Braithwaite	12	Scott Gower	13	Will Murton	14	Jack Gabron-Uhe
15	Lachlan Boyd	18	Will Edmonds	19	Joel Di Natale	20	Callan Buckley
22	Steven Scott	23	Ben McLean	25	Daniel Gribbin	26	Michel De Fontenay
29	Tim Cumming	33	Stephen Milne	35	Luke Globan	45	Drew Kelly
55	Will Gillespie	56	Nick Dickinson

Click on the icon to view the highlights.

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."

Michael Jordan.

Here we are two thirds of the way through the season and just six rounds to go before finals. There is a saying in footy which goes "On any given day a team is beatable". While the ladder may show Old Haileybury and Old Brighton occupying two of the bottom three positions on the ladder That's clearly not how they should be rated. Old Brighton got up and defeated ladder leaders St Bedes at Brindisi St and they managed to do it while kicking 20 behinds. Old Haileybury may have rediscovered their form from the start of the season when they defeated Monash Blues in the mud & water at Frearson Oval. Consequently, St Bedes lost top spot on the ladder and Monash dropped out of the top four. Football can be a funny game at times.

On to last weeks game against Parkdale Vultures. There was a huge incentive for the Vultures as a spot in the top four was beckoning. At our last meeting we were behind at the final break only to storm home and kick 8 final quarter goals. So it wasn't necessarily going to be an easy game. There were three valuable ins from last weeks team with Jack Gabron-Uhe, Milne and Scott all coming back from injury.

Despite all the rain we have been having Banksia Reserve has been holding up pretty well with the cricket pitch being the only real area of the ground the players would not want to visit. After losing top spot last week the players came out firing. We had a season high 122 disposals for the quarter. The 'back six' were again leading the charge and denying the Vultures any easy access to their forward 50. McLean was having a purple patch, marking everything in sight and picking up 8 effective disposals. Dean was also not letting anything past as he continually pumped the ball inside our forward 50. If anything did manage to get past McLean or Dean, then there was Gower (8 disposals, 3 marks) and Braithwaite (6 disposals) mopping up. Just to make things even more difficult for the Vultures Jack Gabron-Uhe and Will Gillespie on the last line of defence were doing all the things that unfortunately don't make the stats sheet but they also don't go un-noticed. If things weren't bad enough for the Vultures, Cathcart (11 disposals), Petering (9 disposals) and Murton (10 disposals) running riot through the middle of the ground. However, despite all those disposals we could still only manage 3 goals 4 behinds. Our goals for the quarter went to Boyd, Edmonds and Milne and we went to the first break leading 3-4-22 to 1-3-9.

The second quarter became more even as far as the stats were concerned as Parkdale started to get their hands on the ball. Our kicking efficiency went from 78% in the first quarter to 55% in the second. But, as is often the case, we can kick goals in a hurry. At one point we kicked two goals in just under 90 seconds. Both goals had Ward's fingerprints all over them. The first came from a slick interception by Ward from a ruck contest, and through heavy traffic and whilst being tackled, he put a handball in front of Kelly who was able to centre the ball on his left perfectly for Boyd to mark. Boyd went back and kicked his second for the game. At the subsequent ball-up Ward was on the receiving end of a tap from Dickinson, and, handballing to himself (you need to watch the highlights), he weaved back through traffic and fired a handball out to Murton who in turn fed the ball back to a waiting Joel Di Natale. Di Natale kicked long to a leading Boyd and even though their defender managed to spoil Boyd's marking attempt, Kelly, waiting front and square, took the ball and side stepped a defender and then put a well weighted pass in front of, who else, but Ward. He went back and kicked truly and we had our second goal inside 90 seconds. Our final goal for the quarter came with one of the better passages of play we've executed so far this season. It started from a ball up in our backline and, with some quick ball movement down the wing, incuding a couple quick 'give and goes', the ball ended up with Milne who was able to kick his second for the game. We went to the long break leading by 16 points, 6-6-42 to 3-8-26.

While we weren't able to quite put the Vultures away in the third term there were a few highlights worth noting. The first happened just over a minute into the quarter. Normally it is the tackling player who might throw the player being tackled to the ground in the effort to win the free kick. Someone forgot to mention this to Josh Ward. After picking up the ball he was subsequently tackled in what could only be called 'a little high'. Probably for some other players the ball or the player was not going to go anywhere. With the ball tucked firmly under his left arm and the Vultures Dillon (#8) under his right, Ward manage to lift Dillon up and across his right leg and 'place' him on the ground to then give a handball out to Globan. I use the word 'place' because in some instances where a player is picked up they are often slammed into the ground. In this case Ward just got him out of the way so he could keep playing the ball.

The second was a comment from one of our 'water boys'. Often people just yell out 'Ball' for the sake of it. Other times they genuinely think it is a holding the ball decision and will yell out 'holding the ball'. In a passage of play which ultimately ended up with Edmonds kicking his second goal there was a passage of play when Di Natale had to wait for a handball that was released too late. This allowed a Parkdale player to attempt a tackle, something easier said than done with Di Natale. Needless to say Di Natale broke the tackle easily and evaded a second Parkdale player, he then had a bounce and delivered a handball to Scott who passed to Milne, then Milne to Edmonds for a goal. During this whole passage of play the Parkdale supporters were yelling 'Ball' and 'Holding the Ball'. Not being a shy and retiring type, the still injured, Anthony Carroll returned fire with a tone of indignation "You've got to tackle him properly to get holding the ball you Halfwit". Then, to rub salt into the wound it took only 13 seconds from the next ball up for Murton to score another goal.

The final highlight from the quarter came after a series of handballs and quick kicks when we took the ball from our backline to our forward line only to miss the shot at goal. But, as the full back took the kick out and attempted to play on he couldn't get past Drew Kelly and Kelly's tackle swung him around so that his attempt at a kick was sent through for another behind for us. Backing up again, the full back decided against playing on. Instead he stepped outside the goal square which a ball up in the goal square. From that ball up the Vultures attempted to clear the ball out of the back line. This attempt was partly smothered, gathered by a Parkdale defender but he was also tackled by Kelly, and, with a free kick against him for incorrect disposal Kelly went back and kicked our third for the quarter.

McLean, who was approaching a BOG performance, picked up another 10 disposals and 4 marks in the third quarter and we went to the last break leading 9-9-63 to 4-9-33.

At the three quarter time huddle the coach asked for 6 goals. We needed to put the Vultures away. Unfortunately we only managed 5 shots at goal and with one rushed behind we scored just 1 goal 5 behinds for the quarter. De Fontenay quietly went about gathering 8 disposals for the quarter to total 21 for the game at an efficiency of 81%. Milne was the single goal scorer for the quarter and kicked his third. Scott in his return game had 9 disposals for the quarter as did Edmonds. Overall our disposal efficiency was at 74% and the final score was a winning margin of 32 points, 10-14-74 to 5-12-42.

With the result of the St Bedes/Old Brighton game going our way we returned to the top of the ladder. But with 6 rounds still to play a lot can still happen.

Don't you just love the footy.

Go sharks.