2016 ROUND 7 V FITZROY

Teams	1st Q.	2nd Q.	3rd Q.	4th Q.
Beaumaris	4.3:27	7.12:54	9:16:70	10.22:82
Fitzroy	3.3:21	7.4:46	9.6:60	12.10:82
Goalkickers : Daniel Gribbin 2, Jack Grange 2, Lachlan Boyd 1, Nick Dickinson 1, Tom Dean 1, Matt Petering 1, Joel Di Natale 1, Scott Gower 1

No	Player	No	Player	No	Player	No	Player
1	Liam Hiscock	2	Robert Cathcart	3	Matt Petering	5	Tom Abbott
6	Lachlan Howes	7	Tom Dean	8	Josh Ward	11	Scott Braithwaite
12	Scott Gower	15	Lachlan Boyd	17	Anthony Carroll	18	Will Edmonds
19	Joel Di Natale	20	Callan Buckley	22	Luke Edmondson	23	Ben McLean
25	Daniel Gribbin	27	Jack Grange	33	Luke Globan	48	Matthew Lovejoy
55	Will Gillespie	56	Nick Dickinson

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"Bad kicking is bad football" - unknown.

But used by many coaches like Alistair Clarkson after the Hawks lost the 2012 Grand Final to Sydney.

It is one of the oldest sayings in the game. It was true long before they invented 'scoreboard pressure'. It is also one thing to be able to get the ball it is another to be able to do something with it. There have been a lot of great players who could get the ball but would then turn it over more times than not when they had to dispose of it. The ability to be able to do it on both sides of the body is also becoming a lost art. But onto Round 7.

Going into Round 7 Fitzroy were sitting 8th on the ladder with 2 wins and 4 losses. They had lost to St Bedes, then Old Haileybury, Ajax and Old Scotch before stringing together wins against Hampton and Old Brighton. On face value one could argue they weren't travelling too well. My discussions with a scribe from another club who had beaten them said they were a lot better than the results were showing. They may have had a couple players missing in the early part of the season. As I've said many times the wonderful thing about football is 'on any given day a team is beatable'. Not so wonderful when it is the Sharks, although technically we didn't get beaten we just didn't win.

The first quarter started pretty well, a Fitzroy turnover and some quick hands saw Hiscock bomb the ball deep into the forward pocket for Grange to mark strongly and go back and kick our first for the game in just under two minutes. It would take another 16 minutes before we registered another. We would kicks three more goals for the quarter to Petering, Dean and Dickinson as well as two behinds and a rushed behind. Not too bad a start! However, it was the three missed shots that would prove to be rather costly. Two set shots missed the goals completely. Petering and Dean, both with 13 disposals for the quarter, were causing headaches for Fitzroy. Edmonds had also started well with 11 disposals. We went to the first break leading 4-3-27 to 3-3-21.

The second quarter was where things started to go a little astray. We had seven behinds on the board before we registered our first goal. Five of the behinds were kicked from set shots. Finally Carthcart using his right boot found Gribbin on a lead and we had a straight kick and a goal. It only took 12:30 minutes! Dean was again leading from the front with 7 effective kicks for the quarter but on several occasions we had some clangers where you would have thought we were looking for the opposition players. At the 25 minute mark you may have also thought we were playing rugby. For several minutes it was just pack after pack in the Fitzroy goal square. Eventually Fitzroy scored and with that they scored the last three goals of the quarter at the 26:28, 30:19 and 32:20 minute marks. Undisciplined football is also bad football. With just over a minute to go in the quarter an errant kick from the full back line straight down the ground to a Fitzroy player was bad enough. But he was still 40 - 45 metres out. Not confident he hands the ball off and a tackle which was clearly too high and resulted in a free kick still meant the Fitzroy player was going to take a shot from around 30 - 35 metres out. Instead an act of frustration results in a 25 metre penalty and it now becomes a far more easy shot on goal. We went to the half time break still leading 7-12-54 to 7-4-46. But we had kicked 3 goals, 9 behinds and one complete miss for the quarter.

The third quarter the game really tightened up. Fitzroy scored within the first two minutes of the quarter but it became an arm wrestle. Only three more goals would be scored for the quarter. We would kick two (Boyd and Gribbin would kick his second) and Fitzroy one more. Cathcart was starting to get busy with 8 disposals as was Gower with 8. Di Natale was also getting his hands on the ball with 7 effective disposals for the quarter. But we kicked another 4 behinds and had 3 misses for the quarter. Two were set shots that fell short. We went to the final break leading by 10 points, 9-16-70 to 9-6-60. It was going to be an interesting final quarter.

Maybe 'interesting' wasn't the best description. Fitzroy would score their first in the first minute of the quarter. The lead was back to 4 points. Dean was the only major ball winner for the quarter with 9 disposals while five players could only manage a single possession for the quarter. It was going to be hard to hold off Fitzroy who could feel an upset looming. Fitzroy kicked the next two goals at the 13:33 and 15:45 minute marks of the quarter. The first of these goals gave them the lead by a solitary behind the next goal gave them a seven point lead. We kicked our only goal for the quarter at the 17:19 minute mark to get us back within a point. The team who could handle the pressure would win the game. Turns out both teams would make mistakes at critical times. At the 25 minute mark Fitzroy spot up one of their players 25 - 30 metres out directly in front. He plays on and instead of handballing over the top to a team mate elects to try and kick it (maybe he should have just gone back and taken a shot), Braithwaite forces the turnover and we take the ball the length of the ground only to miss a shot on the run from 15 metres out directly in front. We kicked one goal, 6 behinds and one complete miss for the quarter while Fitzroy kicked 3 goals and 4 behinds. In the end we had to settle for a draw.

Not every game will go our way and once again I'm sure that Brayden and the boys will be reviewing the game and making the necessary adjustments. It is still only Round 7 and we haven't yet lost a game. Petering and Dean led the disposal count with 36 and 33 respectively. Gribbin and Grange were the only multiple goal kickers with 3 and 2. We kicked 22 behinds and had 8 complete misses for the game.

Still don't you just love the footy.

Go sharks.